


World on fire

by Lamker



Category: Suicide Squad (2016)
Genre: Abusive Parents, Adopted Sibling Relationship, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Awkwardness, Child Abuse, Childhood, Devils, Dreams and Nightmares, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Fire, Hurt/Comfort, I Don't Even Know, Minor Character Death, Minor Violence, Verbal Abuse, What Was I Thinking?, death by fire, future relationship, pyrokinesis
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-15
Updated: 2016-09-03
Packaged: 2018-08-08 23:39:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 23,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7778131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lamker/pseuds/Lamker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A kid with the power of fire, an abusive father and a bad neighborhood can really leave a mark on a person. The Devil’s Gift – that’s what he calls it now. But a long time ago, it was God’s Gift. After finally having enough, he loses control but gains power and takes the first step in becoming the Devil they all fear. And then, he met her… For the first time since he can remember, he's actually happy - she didn't fear him like the others. No, she was the only one to tell him "No," when he did something wrong... And then it all goes to hell.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Somewhere I belong

**Author's Note:**

> I just had to do this... Haven't really seen much about everyone's favorite Devil's past, so I made my own. I'll kinda throw in some stuff from the comics (because I did read them) but not much - only a few hints and nuggets =P
> 
> Also, this will be a dark sort of story as in the tags. Since I couldn't find any actual name for Chato's father, I'll name him in the second chapter. If anyone has the name, please do tell! (The same goes for Chato's family later on when he's older, since I'll be including them as well) 
> 
> I really hope to hear what you all think, since it's my 'dark' story and I'm not sure how comfortable everyone is with this. Feel free to ask about anything and I'll try my best to answer ^^

He was in his room, on the broken bed with a sheet around his body. No one could see him her, not even his father. It was his safe place from everyone and could be himself. His true self. He put his hand near his face and turned his palm upwards, concentrating and…

“I did it!” he smiled happily, seeing the small flame flicker in his hand and it started to change. It didn’t burn and felt warm as he created a small ball out of the flame.

“Chato!!” came a yell, breaking his concentration and causing him to panic. What did he want now?

“Chato, get down here!” the man yelled again, but the boy didn’t move. Maybe he’d think he was already asleep and would leave-

“Get down here now or you won’t be able to move for the next three days!” with the final threat, Chato threw the blanket off and rushed to his door, opening and then running down the stairs.

“Y-Yes, father?” his voice was shaky and trembling as the ten-year-old stood in what served as a kitchen while his father sat in a chair. He was smelling of alcohol and cigarettes and was swaying where he sat, looking at the kid.

“Where… did you run off… to?” the man narrowed his eyes to get a better look at his son.

“M-My room… You fell asleep and I didn’t want to wake you…” Chato said quietly, looking at his feet and rubbing his arm.

“Is that so…?” the father leaned back, head high as he looked down at the boy. “Did you play again?”

“N-no!” he answered too quickly and winced when the father slammed his fist on the table.

“Don’t lie to me! Did you play again?” he asked with more force, his eyes more focused and his voice stronger than before.

“…Yes…” Chato whispered, swallowing as he heard the older man stand up.

“Why did you lie to me?” the man looked down at the boy, standing a few centimeters away.

“…Because you’d hit me if you knew…” the kid was whispering now, just waiting for it to happen so he could leave.

“…” the father frowned and raised his hand to smack the boy, when the phone rang and stopped his movement all together.

“What now…” he grumbled and walker over, still a bit unsteady on his feet. The boy took this opportunity to take a few calming breathes.

“Yeah, what?” the man answered, the frown deepening.

“…Already? But I thought -… No, no I understand… Yeah, yeah… I’ll get it, don’t worry… A week? Yes, I see… Yes, no it’s fine. I’ll have the money by then… Promise, yes… Thank you,” and with that, the man ended the phone call and turned to his son.

“…Chato,” the boy looked up, fear evident in his eyes.

“Time to go,” the boy only nodded, knowing full well what that meant. It’s the worst part of all of this really… but he didn’t have a say in the matter.

* * *

Chato was waiting in the alley where his father told him to, wearing a black hoodie which covered his head and black pants. His hands were in the hoodie’s large pocket and he kept his head low as every now and then someone walked by.

“ _Chato, get ready,_ ” the phone he had received the message and the boy nodded to himself.

A minute later, he heard the screeching of car tiers on the asphalt and the sirens going off. This was a job. His father needed money to pay off his debts so he found out when the next truck loaded with money was coming around. He’d get the truck into position and then…

“Now,” Chato said to himself, stepping out of the alley, hands by his side and covered on fire. He stepped by the asphalt and put both hands on the ground, closing his eyes and gritting his teeth in concentration. The truck was coming closer.

Just in time, the fire melted the ground towards which the truck was driving – it had nowhere else to go. When it drove onto the melted ground, the tiers were melted as well and the vehicle lost control, tripped to the side and slid across the rest of the road.

The young pyro was panting as he fell on his behind, looking at the truck and the police who were trying to get out. But before any of that could happen, a car drove from the other side, by the truck and three armed men stepped out.

“Well done kid,” one of them smiled, giving the boy a nod, before shooting the officers. Chato’s father then joined them and they emptied the truck before backup could come.

* * *

He was, again, in his room, sitting on the bed with his back against the wall. The blanket was around his shoulders as he made a small flame again, this one simple and nothing impressive. He hated it, doing things like that for his father. Chato had known his father was in a gang – Los Reyes Locos Bangers – and always owed a lot of people. That’s probably the only reason he hasn’t killed his son yet… because he needs him. No, he needs his power. That’s all he is to his father, a weapon.

“I’m not a weapon…” he whispered to himself, looking at the flame as it seemed to react to his feelings. It started pulsing, giving off comforting warmth.

“I’m a human… right, mama?” he felt the tear drop down his cheek as he looked to the side, next to his bed, where a make-shift night stand was. On it, an unlit candle, two books and a picture of a woman smiling as she held a small child in her arms.

* * *

“Chato!” the kid cringed at the yell of his name, but scurried out of his room none the less. He didn’t want to make his father angry again.

“Yes?” he asked, walking into the kitchen again, fearing what’s to come.

“We never finished what we started before, did we?” the boy took in a sharp breath. He had figured that, given how well he handled the truck, his father would let it slide. That didn’t seem to be the case however, as the man walked closer.

“What did I tell you about those powers of yours?” the father asked, looming over the child.

“That – that I shouldn’t use them for fun…” Chato answered, biting his lip.

“That’s right, and do you know why?”

“Because… they’re dangerous,” that earned him a slap across the face, knocking his head to the side.

“Wrong! It’s because,” the father kneeled down and forced the boy’s head forward, so he was looking into his dark eyes.

“It’s because those powers are mine to use, understand? They’re yours, but you belong to me and everything that’s yours is mine. Your powers are mine,” the boy nodded as well as he could, holding back the tears, knowing that if he cried, things would only get worse.

“Then why don’t you listen?!” the father hissed and held his head tighter. “Why do you make me hurt you, Chato? Why can’t you be a good damn weapon and just act like one?!”

“I’m sorry, papa!” the kid couldn’t hold the cry any longer and let the tears fall.

“Stop crying Chato! It’s a sign of weakness!” the boy sniffed and tried his best, but his eyes already stung a lot.

“Remember boy, you’re no one. The only reason you’re even here is because I need you, understand? You have nothing!”

* * *

Later that night, Chato was curled up under the bed sheet, letting out silent sobs. The liquid ran down his face and onto his wounds – a swelled cheek, punctured lip and bruised nose. His arms had some old purple marks, joined by new ones while his left leg had a cut across the shin. He hated it, being so powerful yet so weak. He could probably beat his father – burn him – but where would he go then? Who’d want a monster in their home? That’s at least one thing his father was right about… He belonged here – at least he had a roof over his head, food and water when he needed it, a bed to sleep in and a place where he could be himself. Where no one would see him, not even his father.

 


	2. Fire from the tongues of liars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who reads the story! You people rock! =D

It was the next that that the bell rung and Chato had to answer because his father was passed out on the couch. Seems he had a bit too much to drink last night. He threw on a long sleeved shirt, pants and a scarf to try and cover up his bruises. If anyone asked, he always had a good excuse.

“Officer?” the boy asked, acting as innocent as a kid like him could.

“It’s a kid…” one of them muttered, looking at the partner. They ignored the bruises completely, trying to even avoid looking at the boy.

“Um, where are your parents kid?” the second man was clearly expecting an adult.

“My dad’s asleep – had a hard day at work…” Chato used the usual excuse whenever there was a new guy asking about his father.

“And your mom?” the other cop frowned; clearly annoyed he had to deal with a boy.

“…” Chato remained silent but his lips trembled. The two officers quickly picked it up and panicked, but it was a bit too late and the child started crying.

“Great job John, you made him cry!”

“Hey, c’mon kid, I’m sorry,” John tried to correct the mistake but only made it worse.

“Diego Santana… Mark it down and let’s go… We’ll come back in a few hours okay?” the boy only nodded as the cops turned around. They had no patience to deal with crying children.

“…Gone…” Chato mumbled to himself, mostly calmed down. Naturally, he over reacted there, but it was true – when he thought about his mom, he was always very sad. And his father would never tell him what happened. Was she alive? If so, why did she leave? Was she dead? How did she die then? He figured he’d never get answers to those questions and every time he asked, Diego would yell and scream at him.

* * *

 

Chato debated whether or not to wake up his father, and couldn’t really pick. If he wakes him, he’ll probably be in a bad mood and if he doesn’t then he’ll be in a bad mood when the cops come back. Swallowing, the boy walked over to the living room and light tapped Diego on the shoulder.

“Hmam…” was the only response, along with some small movement.

“Dad… Dad, wake up…” he tried, tapping with a bit more force. “Dad, the cops were here…” he shook now and managed to get the father to open his eyes.

“What do you want?” Diego was frowning as he looked down at his son.

“Dad, the cops… They here, probably about last night…” Chato mumbled, making his father open his eyes wide and sit up properly.

“What?! What did you tell them?” he yelled at the boy who winced.

“Nothing! I just said you were sleeping… They’ll be back in a few hours…”

“Damn it, how did they know,” Diego moved past his son and towards the phone, slamming the numbers down as he typed the number.

“C’mon!” he growled as he only heard the beeping noise.

“Maldición!” Diego cursed, throwing the phone onto the ground and stomping on it.

“…Dad…?” Chato was scared to ask as he watched his father vent out his anger.

“They probably sold me out…” the man ignored his son and tried to calm down. “I’ll show them,” his eyes were filled with anger as he looked into the child.

“Father…?” the young pyro was scared to say the least as he saw his father approach him.

“You’ll do it. Use that cursed power of yours and kill them. Kill them all!” Diego grabbed his son by the wrist and pulled him closer.

“N-No! I don’t want to! I’m not gonna kill anyone!” Chato yelled, trying to wriggle free but the grip was too strong.

“You don’t want to kill anyone?” the father cracked a smile as he seemed to lose his mind. “That’s rich, really!” he laughed, throwing his head back.

“You’ve already killed before son…” his words were like poison as Chato tried to block him out. He was wrong! He’s never killed anyone!

“I mean, you can’t really know but…” Diego’s smile grew wider as he leaned in closer to his son. “You killed your own mother, you little monster. She died, giving life to you, a freak of nature!” the father screamed and Chato stopped his struggle.

“That’s not true…” he whispered, trembling as he could hardly breathe. He looked up at his father and felt something wet slide down his cheeks.

“Oh, it’s true alright… You were born to kill!”

“That’s not true!!” Chato screamed and suddenly, fire formed around his hands and eyes.

“AGH!” Diego screamed, feeling it burn his hand and forcing him to drop the boy.

“It’s not true!” the pyro screamed again as his father backed off, trying to get the fire off him. But his clothes caught on as well, especially from the alcohol.

“Get it off!” the older man yelled reaching for any water which was nearby.  Chato on the other hand, was frozen where he stood. His father’s words burned into his mind and now the same man being on fire – he couldn’t handle it, so he ran.

He ran out of the house, away from this place and away from everything. He didn’t know where he was going; just that he was going away. The clouds start to gather and grow dark – it was going to rain today. But the boy didn’t care – he just kept moving, even when he was far away from his house and his father.

* * *

 

Chato managed to find shelter from the rain under a bridge. He was on the ground, back against the stone pillar which supported the bridge, with his knees pulled up and his hands around them.

“I’m not a monster…” he told himself, his face buried into his knees.

“Dad was lying… He was lying…” the rain grew stronger as he could hear how it poured onto the ground and water around the bridge.

“…” the boy trembled – not from the cold, never from that, but because he was scared. He just burned his father, the only person who would have taken care of him, no matter what reason. Could he just go back? Did he honestly have a choice?

“…What’s a kid doin’ here?” someone suddenly spoke, startling the boy who quickly looked up and saw a man in ragged clothes and a bag with some cans and bread on the other side. A hobo.

“Nothin’,” Chato answered, trying to hide his face from the stranger. It wasn’t the first hobo he’s see and it won’t be the last.

“Okay, okay, no need to tell,” the man nodded slowly but took a spot under the bridge himself. “Damn, it’s really warm down here right now…” the man spoke aloud, confused as he looked around.

“…” Santana looked up at the stranger with a hint of curiosity.

“See, you’re in my usual place and I know this place – it ain’t ever this warm… I’m probably going a bit crazy anyway,” the man shook his head and took out some of his food.

“Want some?” he offered, to which the boy only shook his head. “Suit yourself son, but you really ought to eat more… A boy growing up needs to.”

“I’m not hungry…” the man was clearly glad the kid finally said something and smiled.

“…Did you run away from home?” Chato looked up at the man in shock as the stranger gave him a sympathetic look.

“You ain’t gotto say anything. Just keep strong and wait til your old enough,” the man gave another smile a humorless chuckle escaped the boy.

“Sure…” he lowered his head and let out a breath, focusing on it and getting it to warm up some more of his surroundings.

“You should head home boy,” the stranger suddenly spoke as thunder rumbled in the sky. “Right now, it’s still a bit calm, but if you wait any longer… Well, then I don’t advise anyone bein’ out in the rain,” the hobo made himself comfortable, preparing for some sleep.

“…I guess…” Chato looked at the sky and saw that even some lighting was present.

“Later old man,” he added and stood up, taking a few calming breathes before sprinting out from under the bridge.

“See ya boy,” the man said to himself and was about to sleep, when a wave of coldness surrounded him. He shivered, not expecting the cold after it was so warm under here.

* * *

 

As Chato ran, he was drowsed with water. Part of it evaporated into mist as soon as it connected with his body, the rest got sucked up by his clothes. He never really liked the rain – it made him feel uncomfortable, but  then again it cooled him off.

“ _Dad is gonna be so mad…_ ” that thought slowed him down a bit, not wanting to really rush to another beating, but he was running none the less.

It wasn’t until he reached the beginning of the street on which he lived that he noticed the police cars all around. He was confused at first, but then realized what must have happened. Speeding up his run, he was already panting as he finally saw his house.

“No…” the whisper escaped him as he saw five officers coming out of the house, holding down a struggling Diego as he barked curses at them. His left arm was burned, but seemed to have gotten a change of clothes in the meantime.

“Let me go you damned bastards! I ain’t done nothing!” he screamed as they dragged him towards the tuck, their grips strong and gruff.

“Diego Santana – we have information that you have been in multiple armed robberies and murders of police officers,” their voices were drawn out as lighting clashed in the sky and the rain increased with its force, pounding down on the earth.

“Dad…” Chato whispered, his tears mixed up with the rain. What happens now? Where does he go?

“Hey, kid!” the boy turned around and saw an officer making his way up to him.

“You’re Chato Santana right?” he asked and the child could do nothing but nod.

“Why don’t you come with me? I’ll take you to the department and dry you off… Then call someone that’ll pick you up,” the officer gave a smile as he offered a hand.

The kid looked up at him with big eyes, still crying as he saw the tuck which now had his father in it, drive away. With a shaky hand, he took the officers who smiled.

“C’mon, I’ll get you some hot coco while you wait.”

* * *

 

Later, at the Police Department, Chato was sitting by Officer Bill Roger’s desk; covered in a blanket and sipped on the hot coco he was promised. It was freshly made, but the heat didn’t even faze him as he started it right away.

“Careful or you’ll burn your tongue,” Bill smiled, seeing the kid enjoy the coco.

“It’s nothing,” Chato managed a weak smile back. He wondered why only his father was taken in… Didn’t they believe the kid was part of it? Or did no one tell them?

“Chato?” at the sound of his name, the pyro looked up and saw Pablo Garcia, his father’s right hand man and closest friend. He looked relived to see the boy.

“Uncle Pablo,” the kid smiled, glad to finally see a familiar face.

“You must be Mister Garcia,” Roger looked up and offered a hand.

“I’m sure you’ve heard what happened, so thank you, for coming so soon,” he added in a more hushed tone, nodded to the kid.

“Think nothing of it. I’ve known Chato since he was a baby,” Pablo smiled and turned to Santana.

“C’mon kiddo, let’s get you somewhere you’re more familiar with,” he spoke, smiling as the pyro nodded and finished off the coco.

“Thank you, officer. Chato really did deserve better,” Pablo assumed the police had figured out that Diego was an abusive bastard. And if not, well, it doesn’t matter.

“Just doing our job,” Bill smiled and watched the two leave. A sigh escaped him and saw the empty mug of coco. He reached to grab it, but as soon as he touched it, the heat almost burned his fingers. Looking in shock, he couldn’t believe the kid was holding it the whole time and drank everything in a few minutes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't really sure how to go from last time, but this is what I made up...   
> I feel like it's a bit rushed? but meh...  
> Oh and just to point out (spoiler??) we haven't seen the last of Diego =P


	3. Welcome to the family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one might be a bit slow and boring, but it had to be done.

**_ Chapter 3  _ **

“Pablo?” Chato asked as he and the man sat in the car waiting outside the police department.

“How did the police know about my dad?” he climbed into the back, where a kid his age should sit, and leaned closer to the driver’s seat.

“…Are you sad about your old man?” Garcia asked a side question, looking into the mirror to see the boy’s expression.

“…I don’t know…” how’s a ten-year-old supposed to feel at this event anyway? “I’m just… scared.”

“Of what?” Pablo really was an old family friend, so Chato wasn’t scared of the man.

“Of where I’m going to go now…” he wanted to say something else, but kept it to himself.

“Well, you dad was pretty high up the chain in the gang and me being his second in command makes me take up the lead… If you want, you can live with me and my family,” Pablo offered, turning around a corner as the rain kept on dropping.

“But…” the pyro started, not sure how to ask the question.

“I know about your secret, Chato. Don’t worry about it,” Pablo gave a smile and slowed the speed of the car as he turned another corner.

“Besides, we always wanted another boy in the family. Having only one with two girls can turn into a real tip of the power,” the older man joked, getting the kid to chuckle.

“If you say it’s okay…” Santana nodded as the car stopped and they arrived at the Garcia residence.

* * *

 

“Love, I’m home!” Pablo called as he and the boy entered the house. It was better than anything Chato and his father had, since Diego had a habit of using all the money for himself and his pleasures.

“Welcome back!” Ana called, stepping out of the kitchen to greet him. She had deep blue eyes, contrast to Pablo’s green ones, and blonde hair, while the husband had dark brown.

“Oh, a guest?” she added, seeing the new comer in the house.

“Yes, you remember Chato? Diego’s boy,” the man explained, stepping closer and giving his wife a kiss on the cheek.

“He’ll be staying with us now,” he added as she nodded, giving the kid a smile.

“Welcome home, Chato.”

“Thank you, Miss Garcia,” she giggled at that and waved a dismissive hand in the air.

“No need to be so formal! You’re part of our family now Chato, you can call me Ana or better yet, mom,” she winked as the kid didn’t know what to say.

“Come, you need to meet the others,” Pablo grinned, patting the boy on the head.

“Nina, Julia, Ian! Come down!” he called and got a few calls of ‘Yes father!’ before the running of feet was heard and three kids about the pyro’s age appeared at the stairs.

“This is Chato. He’s going to be living with us from now on.”

“…Hello,” Santana was anxious to say the least, but seeing the kids grin and smile as they saw him, he felt shocked.

“I’m Ian!” the boy of the three was the first to introduce himself, grabbing Chato by the hand. He had almost back hair with dark green eyes and a missing tooth.

“Finally, another boy at the house!” he turned around to his sisters and stuck out his tongue.

“Those two are Dumb and Dumber,” he winked and smirked, getting the girls to yell in protest.

“Now, now kids, play nice! No need to give the kid a heart attack on the first day,” Pablo laughed, seeing the children argue again.

“I’m Nina,” she was the blonde one, with blue eyes and freckles on her nose.

“And I’m Julia,” she was a light brunette with green eyes and had a beauty mark above her lip.

* * *

 

“Why don’t you show Chato his new home, huh? Give him a tour!” the kids nodded eagerly at their father’s words and dragged the pyro along, telling him all about the house.

“Well, it seems your gamble paid off…” Ana let out a sigh as the kids left the hall.

“I know… It wasn’t that hard, getting the others to agree on the plan – no one liked Diego much. He was an asshole. I’m just glad I managed to get his son to our place… You’ve never seen how he was treated…” Pablo closed his eyes and rubbed his face at the memory.

“But are you sure it’s really safe? I mean, I don’t mind that he’s… different, but can he control it?” Ana was clearly worried and anyone could understand that.

“Yes, he can. I’ve seen it. It won’t an issue, don’t worry,” the man smiled and pulled the woman into a hug, kissing the top of her head.

“You did good, Pablo. Diego had it coming…” she said to him, her voice quiet.

“I know… But he was still one of my oldest friends…”

* * *

 

“And this is your room!” Ian grinned, opening the door to reveal a room with two beds, a table right under the window, a few wardrobes and a box with all kinds of toys. There were clothes scattered all throughout the room while posters decorated the wall.

“Sorry ‘bout the mess – I didn’t know I’d be having someone else in here,” the boy added, scratching the back of his head as he walked in.

Chato was in shock at the room. His old one was hardly decorated, the windows were barred and part of the wall was cracked. Ian called this a mess, but Santana couldn’t complain.

“Which bed do you want?” Garcia asked, grinning as he turned back to the other boy.

“Umm…” the pyro never really got to know any other kids – his father would keep him in the house all the time – so he didn’t really know what to say.

“Don’t be shy, you’re my brother now!” the adoptee blinked before pointing at the bed in the corner with a red blanket and white pillow. It was right under a poster of a heart in flame.

“Okay!” Ian nodded and moved up to the bed, taking off some of the clothes littered there and tossed them on his own bed, with a blue blanket and a poster of a cheetah above it.

“Say, you don’t talk much,” the boy suddenly said and looked at Santana, who was a bit surprised by the question.

“Oh… Sorry, I just,” Chato had to clear his throat as he looked back at Ian. “This is all new for me and I’m not really sure what to say…” he mumbled, climbing onto the bed and relaxed as it was so soft!

“Oh, I get that. Well, I hope you feel better soon! If you wanna tell me anything, I’ll listen. Even my sisters,” Ian smiled and continued in a more quiet voice: “It always helps me when I tell them if I’m in a bad mood,” a small blush was on the brunette’s face, embarrassed a bit.

“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind,” Chato chuckled and nodded, really grateful to know that.

“Chato,” it was Nina as she knocked on the door to get the boys’ attention. “Father wants to see you downstairs,” she added.

For a moment, fear flashed in the pyro’s eyes before he recalled this wasn’t his own father. Giving a nod, Santana got off the bed and headed towards the door.

“I’ll be here, cleaning up!” Ian called after him, to which Chato laughed.

* * *

 

“Um, Pablo?”

“Ah, Chato, come, come!” the father smiled and waved him into the kitchen, which was a really big and well-furnished place, with a fridge, oven, washer and all the other stuff.

“Diego never sent you to school, right?” Pablo was still holding a phone in his hands.

“No, never… But he sort of taught me at home…” Chato answered, leaving out the bit where he had to learn by himself most of the time.

“Well, would you like to go? You’d be in the same grade as Nina,” Garcia smiled. His kids were close by age, with Julia being twelve, Nina being ten and Ian being nine.

“I… I um…” the many times he’s been at a loss for words today was just crazy.

“I bet you know enough to get into that grade and are smart enough to work it,” Pablo assure, setting a hand on his shoulder.

“But, what about…” the boy looked at his hands, unsure if it was safe.

“You can control it, right? I’m sure you can. As long as you don’t use it in school, there won’t be any problems. You’ll be just a normal kid.”

“Really?” suddenly, his eyes were filled with hope and Pablo’s heart clenched. He really did feel sorry for the boy, ever since he first saw how Diego mistreated and used him. He’s always been weak for poor children, growing up with a drunk as a father himself, so he didn’t want to see them suffer.

“Yes, really. Just promise you won’t use those powers of yours.”

“Promise!” Chato moved and hugged Garcia’s leg, sniffing as he tried to hold in the tears.

“Thank you so much…” he whispered, finally feeling like someone cared.

“Not a problem, son.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, also, a question I'd really like you readers to answer (sort of?)  
> Do you want the 'first day at school' part (or any school part for that matter) or do I just do some time skips and all that...?


	4. Live and Learn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was just kinda wondering... Has anyone noticed that the titles for chapters, are also titles for songs? Or at least a line for a song. Just a fun fact =P

It was the first night sleeping in a new place, and Chato couldn’t actually sleep. It was all too… new for him. From the comfortable bed, to the decorated walls to the snoring of Ian – he felt awkward. So, he did what he usually did when in this position.

Looking over his shoulder and seeing that Ian was still fast asleep, Santana turned his back towards the room, so he was facing the wall and brought up his hands to his face. He concentrated for a second, and created a small flame, which illuminated the corner his bed was in.

A low mumbled escaped the other boy as he turned in his bed, and Chato waited to see if he’d wake up. When nothing happened, the pyro let out a silent sigh and focused back on the flame. He always liked ‘making’ things out of fire. Not only could it be beautifully, but it showed how much control he actually had over the fire. So far, the best he’s done was a sort-of-cat which only lasted a few seconds, but it was progress.

So, focusing on the image of a cat in his mind, the boy concentrated on the fire, making it take the shape he saw. He started with the tail… then the body… the four legs… the-

“Hey, what are you doing?” letting out a yelp, Chato lost all focus and the fire died. But that was the least of his worries.

* * *

 

“Ian?!” he almost had a heart attack and turned around, seeing the boy looking still in a daze, with a blanket around his shoulders and a finger on his lip. He was leaning around, trying to see better, but with Chato staring him down, that was impossible.

“It looked so pretty,” Garcia added, giving a warm smile.

“…Why aren’t you asleep?”

“I was cold,” the other boy gave a sheepish smile and scratched the back of his head. “It’s really warm near you, by the way,” he added, another big smile on his lips.

“Hey, can you show it to me again? The fire kitty?” he added after the adoptee stayed silent.

“I… I don’t know what you mean…” Chato stumbled over his words, having no idea what to do.

“Oh, it’s a secret then? Okay, I promise I won’t tell!” the younger one nodded his head and made it clear he wouldn’t leave it alone.

“…Fine…” Chato let out a breath and sat up in his bed, giving the other kid room to sit.

“It really is warm here,” Ian added, getting comfortable and looking with intense eyes.

Santana now felt embarrassed, since he hasn’t really showed his power to anyone like this. Especially this way. So, taking a deep breath, he focused again, creating a bit bigger fire and making it bend to his will. He started slowly again, with the tail, the body, the legs, the head and finally, the ears and mouth. His hands were shaking a bit from the concentration, but Ian was at a loss for words as he watched with wide eyes and an open mouth.

“That is soooooo cooool…” he whispered, fearing if he spoke any louder, he’d cause the pyro to lose focus and disband the flame.

“You aren’t scared?” Chato asked, slowly getting the fire to fade, piece by piece.

“No, not really… It looked really pretty and felt really warm… I never knew fire could be used in that way,” Ian was still mesmerized by what he saw.

“You can’t tell anyone about this, okay? Promise!” Chato looked up with worried eyes.

“I won’t! Pinky promise!” Ian nodded fiercely and offered up his left pinky.

“Thanks,” Santana locked his own pinky with the other boy’s and smiled.

“…Hey, Chato? Can I sleep here? I’m still cold…”

“Um…Okay? Sure, I can crawl up a bit,” the pyro nodded and moved to the top of the bed while Ian moved over and grabbed the pillow from his own bed. The two then shared the one warm bed, with one sleeping at the head of it and the second at the end.

“Hey, Chato… You’re going to school tomorrow, right…?”

“Yeah, why…?”

“Oh, nothing… Just be careful with the older students…”

“…Right, thanks…”

* * *

 

“Alright class, simmer down,” the teacher, Miss Veil, called as she stepped into the room, getting the fourth graders to quiet down and take their seats in the classroom.

“Good. Now, I want you all to welcome your new class mate, Chato Santana,” she smiled, motioning for someone to step in, which he did.

“Hello,” Chato greeted, swallowing soon after as he looked around at the filled classroom. All eyes were on him and he felt himself grown red.

“Hello!” they called back, smiling at the new addition to their class. Amongst them was Nina, who gave a wink and an assuring nod, saying he was doing fine.

“I hear you already know Nina Garcia, so I’m sure you’ll be comfortable sitting next to her,” Veil motioned to the open spot to the right of the said girl.

“Thank you, Miss Veil,” Chato nodded and walked over to the table, before sitting down. Most of the kids were still looking at him.

“Alright everyone, be nice to your new classmate and let us continue from where we left off.”

* * *

 

The kids had their usual schedule with breaks, and in between those, Chato got to meet them. Naturally, they were really curios and he answered everything as best he could, but felt awkward and anxious the whole time.

“Where did you go before coming here?” one of the kids asked as the others gathered around the new guy. Nina sat nearby, smiling and giving thumbs up.

“Um… Private school,” that was a lie Pablo told him to say in case someone asked.

“Are you from Mexico?” a girl with pig tails tilted her head.

“No, I was born in LA but both my parents were from Mexico,” that was the truth – they moved to Los Angeles a few years before he was born.

“Say something in Spanish!” everyone nodded their heads at that.

“Como que?” he blinked, raising his shoulders in question.

“Awesome!” the others called, smiling as they had no idea what he actually said.

“Okay everyone, get to your places. We only have two more periods before you’re all free to go,” Miss Veil smiled and shook her head, glad the new comer was so welcomed.

* * *

 

“And that is all for today class. Have a good day and be careful,” Veil finished off, writing the last word on the back board.

“Goodbye Miss Veil!” the kids called, getting their things and rushing out of the room.

“So, what did you think?” Nina asked as he walked with Chato, each one with a pack on their back.

“Well… It’s not as bad as I thought,” he answered, laughing as they walked towards the exit.

“Give it some time, you’ll be bored to death soon enough,” she added, sticking out her tongue. But that caused her to bump into someone and the force knocked her down.

“Nina,” Chato quickly moved to help her stand while the person she hit turned around.

“What do we ‘ave ‘ere, eh?” three boys, between the ages of thirteen and fifteen smirked as they looked down on the two.

“Sorry…” the girl quickly said, letting her brother help her stand. “I wasn’t looking where I was walking,” she added, dusting herself off.

“No, you weren’t,” one of the three – black hair and blue eyes with a hood over his head – smirked at her, leaning down.

“She said she was sorry, so leave her alone,” Santana stepped in between, glaring up at the teen.

“Oh, lookie here! Though guy!” the hooded guy laughed as his friends smirked.

“I ain’t never seen his mug ‘round here before. New guy eh?” the ginger with long hair smirked.

“Chato, what are you doing?” Nina whispered, standing behind the pyro.

“I could easily-,” Chato stopped himself from speaking as he remembered:

_“Just promise you won’t use those powers of yours.”_

_“Promise!”_

“What’s the matter little guy, all bark no bite?” the third one, with blonde hair and a jacket poked the boy on the head, pulling at his long black hair.

“Don’t!” Chato’s eyes suddenly lit aflame, causing the teens to yell and back off, one even falling on his backside.

“W-What the shit man?!” the pyro quickly took in a breath and dispelled the flames.

“What’s going on here?” a woman’s voice spoke from behind the kids. Both Nina and Chato looked up and saw Miss Veil, looking in confusion between the five students.

“We were just leaving,” Garcia smiled and pulled Santana behind her as they walked towards the exit, the boy still in a bit of a shock.

* * *

 

“What happened?” Nina asked as soon as they were outside and away from the others.

“I – I,” Chato couldn’t find the words as he clenched his fists. He wasn’t sure himself and couldn’t really explain it to her.

“…Well, thank you. For helping me,” she said, seeing he wasn’t going to explain it anytime soon.

“S-Sure, no problem…” the boy muttered, letting out a deep breath.

“Ahoy mateys!” a familiar voice called and the two turned around, seeing Ian rushing towards them.

“Hey Ian how was-?” before Nina could finish the question, the boy tripped over his own feet and fell face first onto the ground.

“Ian!” the two quickly ran to his side, panicked as they checked if he was okay.

“Ugh… I’m such a klutz…” the kid was fine, a scratch on his knee, but he seemed more embarrassed than anything else.

“Yes you are,” the girl shook her head while Chato tried to hide his laughter, but he failed.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to,” he tried to apologize, but couldn’t get rid of the smile.

“Aghh! You laughed! I knew you could, I knew it! I gotto tell Julia as soon as I can!” Ian was grinning from ear to ear as his siblings blinked.

“You gotto tell me what now?” speak of the Devil and it shall appear goes the saying right?

“Chato laughed!” the said boy was already red in the face (for the hundredth time today) as he looked at the ground.

“Well, that’s an improvement. Just you wait Chato, we’ll get you to cry from laughter next,” the eldest promised as she joined them near the fallen Ian.

“By the way… what are you all doing on the ground?” before they could explain, they heard and saw a familiar car drive up in front of the school.

“C’mon kiddos, let’s head home!” Pablo called, nodding his head to the car.

* * *

 

Later that day, everyone was getting ready for dinner, but they were missing someone…

“Where’s Chato?” Ana asked, setting the table and seeing only three kids.

“He isn’t down yet?” Ian looked around, confused as to where his brother was.

“I’ll go get him…” Julia sighed and stood up from her chair. She figured it would happen… the stupid kid either forgot or he felt like he didn’t belong.

“Chatooooo,” she called in a sing-sang tone as she slammed the door open, only to see the adoptee sitting on the bed with fire in his hands.

“…huh?” she blinked and in the next moment it was gone.

“J-Julia!” Chato blurred out, startled and panicked by her arrival. She stood there in the doorway for a few more seconds before shaking her head.

“C’mon, we’re waiting for you. Dinner’s ready,” she nodded downstairs.

“Oh…” Santana blinked, confused for a second. “OH!” his eyes went wide a moment later as he scurried out of the bed and almost tripped on the chair nearby.

“I’m so sorry, I forgot!” he gave a sheepish smile, but she saw through it, however didn’t address it. She didn’t know what happened to the boy or why he was adopted, but she figured he’d tell them when he felt like it.

“C’mon, father and mother want to know your first day of school,” she nudged him with her elbow and started running towards the stairs. “Last one down’s a rotten egg!”

“H-Hey, no fair! You got a head start!” the pyro needed a second before he ran after her. He might not be used to the whole ‘family’ thing, but if someone is willing to show and teach him, he’s more than willing to learn and go with it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ALSO! I seem to have forgotten Chato's description????   
> I'm taking the image from the comic(ish??) so:  
> Long, black hair, black eyes and usually wears a black T-shirt with a sleeveless jacket over it.


	5. See who I am

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a sucker for family moments, as I'm sure you've noticed, so there's some more in this one. It's cheesy as hell and cliché (at least I think so) but I don't give a flying fruit cake~~~   
> Also, I've never really written anything this... young (characters I mean) so yeah, it's awkward and kinda repetitive, but aren't kids like that? I'll kinda sort if maybe fix that since I'll be making a time skip of a few years (it'll be either the next one or the one after that - you people can pick xD)

“So, how was school?” Ana asked as they all sat at the table, each one eating the lasagna made.

“I got a B in Math,” Julia happily said, smiling as she munched on the food.

“Daniel brought his new toy car to class!” Ian was grinning, letting a part of the lasagna fall from his mouth and back onto the plate.

“What about you, Chato? First days always tend to be interesting,” the mother smiled, trying to get their new addition to the family to speak.

“Um…The other kids were really nice and asked me to talk in Spanish a few times,” Santana mumbled, trying to avoid thinking about the event with the older students.

“Miss Veil even said he’s got a lot of ‘know how’ about other stuff,” Nina chipped in, giving her adopted brother a wink.

“That’s wonderful,” Ana smiled before a phone could be heard.

“Oh, excuse me,” Pablo looked surprised as he pulled the phone from his pocket and left the table. Normally, kids wouldn’t bother to listen to what was being said, but Chato had a bad habit of listening to his father, so he couldn’t really resist. And it wasn’t like Pablo went that far away…

“It’s Pablo. No, go ahead… Really? Are you sure? Damn, that’s soon… No, no, it’s fine, I just thought it’d take more time… So, everyone’s in agreement then? Wonderful! When? What?! …No, no problem. Yeah, I’ll be there… Right. Bye,” and with that, the father let out a long breath before returning to the table, a weak smile on his face.

“Were those your friends, dad?” Ian asked, looking at the man.

“Yeah, they called and they need me. I’ll be back soon, promise,” he assured, leaning down and kissing his wife.

“Just be careful,” Nina had some concern in her eyes as she watched him.

“Always,” he said back, before his eyes went to the adoptee, who seemed to know what was happening. The kid was used to this from his father after all.

“Guys, be sure to help Chato out with any school work, okay?” he grinned at the kids

“Okay!” they called back and watched him leave.

* * *

 

“So… your dad… What does he do?” the pyro asked when he and Ian were back in the rooms, the latter doing homework while the former made fire run around his fingers.

“He helps around the street,” the boy answered, looking at the flames with a smile.

“Oh, is that it…” Santana was occupied with the flame, so he seemed to only be paying half the attention, when he was actually wondering if the kid not knowing was good or bad.

“HA! I KNEW IT!” suddenly came from behind the door, which was knocked open, with two girls standing there, one looking shocked with her mouth open while the other one stood triumphantly. The boys were too shocked to actually reply and Chato still had the fire on his hands.

“I don’t believe it!” Nina called, her mouth still open as she watched the flames.

“I knew I wasn’t seeing things!” Julia was grinning, looking from one boy to the other. It was only about then that the two recovered and the pyro released his flames.

“Girls, what’s going on?” Ana called from downstairs, hearing the ruckus.

“Oh um… Nothing? We’re just… playing with the boys!” the oldest one quickly lied, pushing her younger sister into the room and closing the door behind them.

“Now…” she turned her eyes on the brothers, neither of which had moved, and smirked. “You got some explaining to do.”

“So… you can control it?” Nina summed up what was explained to her.

“And create it, yeah,” Chato nodded, looking at the girls and wondering what they’ll do.

“Show us!” Julia had big eyes as she leaned in closer, almost demanding.

“Um…” Santana turned to the other boy, who only shrugged back at him.

“Okay,” at that, the girls grinned and moved back a bit, giving the adoptee some room. In the following seconds, Chato focused and created fire, before turning it into a ball.

“Wow!” the three called – yes, even Ian, since has hasn’t seen this before. “Can you like, move it?” Nina asked, looking up from the flame.

“I can do one better,” the pyro smiled and concentrated a bit harder, before tossing the fire into the air and over to his other hand like it was an actual ball. He kept tossing it between one hand and the other a few times, the kids following with their heads.

“So cool!” it made the metahuman happy that the others were scared of him or hated it him for it. They were just curios and in awe by it.

“Do our parents know?” the eldest asked, watching the fire.

“Yeah,” Chato admitted and tried to twirl the ball, only to have it miss his palm and land on the ground, letting the carpet catch fire.

“AGH!” the children panicked and jumped away, fear in their eyes. This wasn’t fun anymore and Ian looked really scared as Julia held her sister close. Santana looked at their horrified expressions and felt extreme guilt. He had to fix this, but how? The fire was spreading.

Without another thought, the pyro put his hands into the fire and focused more than usual, as the flame was much bigger. He managed to stop it from spreading, but that wasn’t enough.

“C’mon!” he gritted his teeth and thought back to the many jobs his father had him do. Those were all much harder than this!

“C’mon!” his eyes blazed with fire themselves as he seemed to absorb the flames into his hands. His hands caught fire and his clothes got burned as the fire slowly vanished. When all was set and done, the pyro collapsed onto his knees, hands on the ground and panting hard.

“What’s going on in here?!” Ana rushed into the room, worried and scared as she heard something happened upstairs. Her eyes went from the three terrified kids, to the one on panting to the burned ground and then back to the kids.

* * *

 

Chato sat in silence on the chair, looking at the ground, while Ana cleaned his skin of the smoke and ash he got. The fire left no mark on his body, something the pyro didn’t expect. But he didn’t really care about it. He couldn’t look anyone in the eyes. The other kids were unharmed by the fire, but got really scared, so they went down as well to be with their mother. So far, Santana hasn’t said a word.

“That should be everything…” the wife spoke, letting out a breath as she cleaned off the adoptee’s knee and cheek. He was still silent.

“…Chato,” at his name, he looked up with his eyes, seeing the woman look down with a soft and gentle smile. “Are you hurt anywhere?”

The pyro could feel the tears start to well up as his lips trembled. When something similar happened back at his old home, his father gave him such a beating he couldn’t properly walk for days. And here, she was worried about him – him who almost burned the house down. And all he could muster was a shake of his head.

“Hey, come on now, no need to cry,” her voice was gentle, maybe even a bit frightened, but she embraced the dark-haired boy none the less. “I’m not going to yell at you…”

“A-Aren’t you – mad?” he whispered back, sniffing and still trying not to cry.

“Chato, it’s a room. A carpet. I’m just glad none of you were hurt,” she pulled back a bit and brushed his long hair from his face, letting her look him in the eye. “Isn’t that right?” she turned to the other kids who were smiling. They all nodded.

“See? You just… scared us a bit. Pablo said you have a habit of ‘playing with fire’ but please, don’t do it too much in the house, okay? I’m sure you didn’t mean it, but next time, things could go very differently,” Ana didn’t even want to think what would happen if this occurred in the kitchen.

“I’m so sorry…” Chato said back, lowering his head in a sort-of-bow.

“It was scary but really cool ya know,” Ian gave his usual toothy smile.

“Yeah, your eyes were on fire to! And you seem to be fire proof!” Nina laughed, motioning with her fingers to the eyes.

“Dad once burned a pancake and almost the whole kitchen, so I think you’re good,” Julia winked, giving an assuring smile as well.

“…Thanks…” the pyro sniffed again and wiped away the liquid, before feeling three pairs of arms hug him so tightly, he couldn’t breathe.

“You’re our brother now, Chato. And siblings are there for each other,” the eldest spoke.

“… _Pablo, you did well, taking him in. He’s not wrong… he’s just lonely,_ ” Ana thought as she watched her kids hug it out, before joining the group hug. It was really warm.


	6. Stand in the rain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one I just... I don't know - I just felt like it would be something fun to do.   
> Thanks so much for everyone who reads/follows/comments and leaves kudos! You people are the best! =D

“Chato honey, could you run to the store for me? I need some cheese and onions,” Ana called, leaning out of the kitchen and looking upwards.

“In a moment!” came the answer back, before a door was opened and the stomping of feet could he heard running down the stairs.

“What do you need?” Chato asked, rubbing his face to try and clean the paint of his most recent project for school.

“Cheese and onions. Pablo had to take Ian to the doctors and dropped Julia at the dentist and Nina is helping me here in the kitchen,” the mother explained, wearing her hair in a ponytail and had an apron around her body.

“Mom… I think I messed up!” the girl called as she poked the dough with the wooden spoon.

“I’ll head out before I get dragged into this,” Chato smiled as the mother handed him some money. It was more than enough, but still.

“And be quick about it, okay? It looks like it’s about to rain,” Ana added as the boy got his shoes and jacket on.

“Back before you know it!” the pyro waved and left the house, running towards the shop as dark clouds started to gather in the sky.

It’s now been over half a year since Chato was adopted and he’s adapted to the new family very well. He still plays with fire (more carefully now) as everyone knows about it and even helps with certain things, like cooking or lighting when the electricity was out. Pablo asked him to help grill the fish, saying he should learn how to really control the fire while Ana occasionally asks if he could heat up some water quickly. It was a lot different than how his real father used his powers – this kind was for simple things and humor. It made the pyro feel like his power wasn’t only there to create destruction but to actually help. The kids even dubbed it “God’s Gift” because he was born with it.

And that was another thing Santana was new to – Christianity. He’s never been to Church or actually had any knowledge about it, but the Garcia taught him. They themselves weren’t that much on religion themselves, but they did go to Church on Sundays and on big events.

* * *

 

Chato ran down the sidewalk, passing others who were either walking their dogs, heading home or just going outside for a walk. About ten minutes, two traffic lights and three pedestrian crossings later and the boy was at the store. The clouds had gathered and thunder could be heard not far away from here.

“Onions and cheese…” the pyro said to himself, walking in between shelves until he found was he was looking for. He tried to remember which cheese Ana used and ended up grabbing whatever was there. He also took about three onions heads – just to be sure. When all was paid for, the kid set it into a plastic bag and left the store, only to see small drops of rain were already falling.

“Great…” he murmured and figured he could take the short cut through the allies. And that’s what he did. Not only did it sort of cover him from the rain, but he also avoided most of the traffic. At this rate, he just might make it home before it really starts pouring. However, that all came to a stop when Chato heard grunts, laughter and… meowing?

“Kick it, yeah!”

“Should we cut off its tail?”

“Nah, better shave off all the fur!”

All of that was followed by loud and broken cries and shrieks of a cat and the laughter of teens. Chato quietly moved in closer, poking his head into another alley and saw something more horrifying than his father in drunken rage. Three kids were beating up a small, black cat that was already bleeding and had a broken front paw.

“Hey!” he called, not even caring that they might beat on him. He just couldn’t stand it and it made his blood boil. Luckily, the rain started coming down stronger and it just might cool him off. Maybe…

“What do you want kid?” one of them asked while the other two narrowed his eyes. They were a few years older than him and clearly bullies. Great…

“Stop it or you’ll kill the cat. What did it ever do to you?” Chato frowned and tensed when he heard them all laugh.

“What does it matter? It’s a stupid animal that lives on the street. We can do what we want with it,” the second on grinned, squeezing the broken paw.

In an instant, the pyro got back a shit ton of bad memories from his real father – the most effective that instant being:

_“You don’t belong anywhere but to me! I can do what I want with you!”_

“You can’t treat life like it was your toy!” Santana hissed, getting the three actually interested in him. So much even that they were all looking at him as they stepped away from the kitty.

“You’re asking for it kid,” the third one cracked his knuckles as they approached.

“You don’t scare me…” Chato said back, his eyes narrowing and blinking in and out of fire. The rain was messing with his power!

“Oh really, and why’s that?” one smirked as they seem to surround him.

“Because I’ve seen real fear… and you have nothing on him.”

* * *

 

“Where could he be?” Ana asked, biting her finger as she watched through the window. The rain was really strong now and thunder crashed all around, but Chato still hasn’t come back yet.

“Maybe it got too bad and he stopped to wait it out?” Nina offered, looking at her mother and then out the window. She was worried to.

“I hope he’s okay…” Ian was sitting on the sofa, trying to warm himself with a blanket.

“I’m sure dad found him,” Julia didn’t sound half as convinced as she’d like.

A few minutes later and the front door was opened, letting some rain fall in and allowing the family to hear the thunder in the sky even better.

“Pablo? Anything?” the mother asked, walking over to the man who was soaked to the bone.

“Nothing… I asked the neighbors, I checked the market… I even asked my friends. No one’s seen him,” the man shook his head, peeling off his wet clothes and setting them to dry.

“I don’t like this one bit…” lighting blasted above, lighting the dark sky.

“I’ll try again. Don’t worry Ana, I will find him,” the father promised and opened the door, ready to head out, only to see a kid, his black hair soaked and clinging to his head, with a bag of onions and cheese hanging across his wrist, while he held a black puffball close to his body, trying to shield it from the storm.

“CHATO!!” the parents yelled, making the kid wince and pulling him in. At their touch, he let out a hiss and they saw his battered and bruised body as the light illuminated him. His left eye was black, his lip was punctured, his neck had fingerprints on it, his fingers seemed bloody and his arms and legs were black and blue. Before anyone could ask anything however, the puffball moved and let out a meow as it rubbed its face against the boy’s chest.

“I can explain,” Santana looked at their wide eyes and shocked expressions, petting the cat in his arms and only gave a sheepish smile.

* * *

 

“So, three kids did this to you? My God…” Pablo let out a sigh and rubbed his face while Ana bandaged the beaten boy up.

“You should see the other guys,” Chato gave a cheeky smile, both parents suddenly looking in fear.

“Did you-!” before they could actually ask that, the pyro shook his head.

“I just gave them what they deserved… They were going to kill a small cat! But I ended up getting the most beat up…” he tried to defend as Julia brought some hit tea to help with the pain.

“Well… Yes, but still. You shouldn’t go around fighting everyone you see,” the father rubbed his neck and glanced at the puffball which lay on the towel by the fire place in the bedroom. Ian and Nina were taking care of it as best they could.

“I’m sorry… I just- I don’t like it when people treat life like they can control it…” both parents shared a quick look of understanding.

“Look, you really shouldn’t fight everyone, but you had a good reason and that’s fine. You saved the cat,” Pablo carefully set a hand on the boy’s shoulder.

“Can we keep it then?” again, the parents were surprised, but this time Santana wasn’t alone.

“Can we, please? It’s so small and cute!” Nina called, lightly petting the animal’s head.

“We promise to take good care of it!” Ian added, setting part of the towel over the cat’s body.

“It’s not like we can just let it back out,” Julia shrugged with a grin, knowing the older two couldn’t possibly say ‘no’ to four kids.

“…Alright, alright, fine! We can keep the cat!” Pablo set his hands up in defeat. “But you better take care of it. A pet is a big responsibility.”

“We will!”

“Good… Now, how should we name it?” Ana smiled and finished off with the pyro’s injuries.

“Panther!”

“Scar!”

“Kenny?”

The three Garcia started arguing about it, until the eldest turned to their adoptee with a grin.

“Chato found it and brought it here – he should name it.”

“…Well, how about, Lucky?”

“Perfect!” the four then gathered at the cat and it meowed happily, even if it was still bruised and battered. But it wasn’t the only one and it rubbed it’s head against its saviors black and blue wrist.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a bit of a forewarning here - in a few chapters (I don't know how many) I'll be doing a five-year time skip and then continue from there. If there's anything you (the readers) would like to see while still in this 10-year-old period, do tell and I'll see what I can do ^^


	7. Demons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yey, I'm actually making some story progress - how cool is that? xD  
> But really, I love hearing from you, the readers, so don't be shy now, okay? Okay! ^^

It was a week after the black puffball joined the family household and the kids were really happy about it. Lucky was still mostly sleeping due to the broken paw, but a vet came over and said that it should heal in time. The cat should be kept inside in the meantime and rest.

Right now however, everyone was preparing for lunch. Ana had made some mushroom soup with potatoes while the kids made the table. Pablo was out… working again, and wouldn’t come home until later that day.

“We’re one plat short,” Ian said, counting the plats on the table.

“I got it,” Chato grinned and moved to the cupboard, opened it up and took the plate. But when he was about to set it on the table, his nose started to really itch and he tried to get rid of it, but instead, he sneezed. In fire. A bit of panic went around the house as the fire flew in the air before evaporating, luckily, not burning anything. However, the pyro seemed a lot worse for wear than usual and sniffed, giving an apologetic look.

“You sneeze… fire?” Julia asked, looking at the boy. They’ve all gotten used to spontaneous fire so when all was safe and sure, things went back to normal quickly.

“Apparently…”

“What, you’ve never been sick before?” Nina blinked, setting the plate down instead.

“Not really, no…”

“Come, let me see you,” Ana said and moved over to the sick boy, setting a hand on his forehead and quickly withdrawing.

“You’re hot. Really hot,” she said, a bit confused. “Has your temperature always been this high?” it could easily be because of his power.

“I think so,” Chato answered, blinking up at her. His head felt dizzy and his nose itched again. Moving it he already did the motion before he could warn the mother, but she quickly turned him around, letting his fire hit air again.

“That’s going to be… a slight problem…”

“Sorry…”

* * *

 

“I really wish there was something else I could do…” Ana let out a breath as she tucked in the sick kid. He was sleeping on the couch, with a mug of tea on the coffee table and a night light on.

“I get it… Lower chance of burning everything down here…” he mumbled, looking upwards and seeing nothing was in range as long as he sneezed up.

“Try and get some rest, okay? And don’t worry, I won’t send you to school tomorrow,” the mother smiled and kissed the boy on the cheek. “Goodnight.”

“G’night,” he smiled back before she left. Closing his eyes, Chato relaxed as best he could and tried to get some sleep. But there was another thing he never said before. His body felt like it was on fire. At first it was nothing much, he just figured it was hot around the house. But now, he was almost burning up, something that should not be happening to a pyro. He just hoped it would pass and be done soon. When he was able to actually drift into sleep, the thermometer on the wall started rising up to a high temperature.

* * *

 

Chato actually felt comfortable, sleeping as he did, until he turned around and felt something hard and rough against his back. Blinking and partly waking up, there was darkness all around and he still felt like shit. But he quickly took notice of where he was sleeping.

“Animal skin?” his eyes grew more focused and wide as he felt the fabric on which he lay and was covered in. The skin was set on the ground and the place seemed small.

“ _What’s going on?_ ” he asked himself and sat up on the skin, creating a flame in his palm and suddenly feeling very much awake.

“Agh!” a yell escaped as he looked around the stone room. Directly in front of him was a metal door, but all around were stone walls. The skin didn’t really seem animal and there was no source of light other than the fire in his hand.

“Oh, you’re awake,” a voice spoke from behind the door – it sounded female but had a very sinister tone to it. “The Mistress would like to see you now.”

“W-Where am I?!” Chato yelled, looking around franticly for a way out. The door then opened, letting some new light fill the prison as three figures stood in the door way. They looked human, but had horns on their heads, sharp teeth and glowing eyes. One had long black hair falling down its back and wore some sort of amazon type armor – this one seemed female. The other two had short black hair and had a sort of armor pants and a few straps across their chests – they looked male. All of them had reddish skin with tattoos and marks on it, as well as muscular bodies.

“Welcome to Hell, little one,” the female smirked, revealing sharp and deadly teeth as the males stepped in and grabbed the boy.

“Let me go!” he screamed and his eyes lit aflame, as fire burst from his hands at the two grunts. The quickly backed off, dropping the kid to the ground.

“Feisty,” the female laughed and took a dagger from her back before pointing it at the kid.

“But that was a mistake, mortal,” Santana looked up at her and saw only a foggy image. What was wrong? He felt really tired.

“Take him. His power is diminished now,” she ordered the other two who moved back to grab the boy. This time however, he couldn’t use his fire anymore.

“Be happy mortal, not everyone gets to meet the Lady of Hell like this.”

Chato didn’t know where he was being taken, but he could partly see his surroundings. It really did look like Hell – there were rocks and spikes everywhere, fire seemed to sprout out of holes, there were ghostly figures every now and then, and it all had that sinister aura to it.

“My Mistress, we’ve brought the child,” the female said and the kid felt the grunts stop and drop him down on the hot ground.

“Wonderful,” the voice sounded beautiful but at the same time deadly and evil. He heard the woman walk and felt another person near him. Managing to look up and focus as best he could, Santana saw a gorgeous woman with a crown of sorts sitting between her two black horns. She wore a dress that sparkled in the fire around them and all sorts of other jewelry.

“My little devil,” she whispered and took the boy’s head into her hands. Chato could feel the heat of her touch and felt more energized now.

“It’s almost time… You will be my wrath made living on the world above… You only need the final form,” she spoke softly and smiled, turning both their heads to the side. There, Chato could see a stone tablet of sorts, with a huge demon-like figure on it, covered in flame.

“That is all you need now… Accept it and become a God among weaklings,” Chato couldn’t look away from the tablet, but the longer he stared, the more alive it seemed. After a minute or so, the demon thing moved, almost reaching out from the tablet and let out a roar.

* * *

 

“No!” the pyro screamed and suddenly found himself sitting up on the couch, covered in sweat and panting hard as his hands burned with fire. He was prepared to roast anyone.

“What the-!” he looked around himself in a panic, eyes wide and saw he was in the living room and nothing had changed.

“A dream?” he whispered, dispelling the fire and setting a hand on his face. It felt so real.

“ ** _Accept what you are,_** ” a voice whispered into his ear and he snapped his head to the side, only to see nothing.

“This isn’t happening,” he said, closing his eyes and calming his breathing.

 ** _“Become my wrath on this world,_** ” it was the woman’s voice – the mistress or whatever she was. But that couldn’t be, right? It was all a dream.

Chato got up from the couch and slowly walked over to the bathroom. His body still felt like it was on fire so he wanted to cool it off. Walking over to the sink, he opened up the water and splashed some of it onto his face, before looking into the mirror above it. As he looked, he saw the face of a demon in fire staring back at him, until he let out another scream and backed away. The image stayed there and roared as Santana tripped and fell backwards into the bathtub, hitting his head on the edge.

“Ouch…” he let out and held his hand to the back of his head, and luckily felt no blood. Glancing back at the mirror, the image was gone and he let out a breath of relief.

“I’m seeing things… I’m sick… I just… need to sleep it off…” he told himself and went back to the couch, and lay back down. A bit scared of what might happen, the kid still closed his eyes and managed to fall asleep, this time without the realistic nightmare.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so, yeah, that's what I'm doing. (I have no idea what I'm doing)   
> So, do you want to see some more of that whole 'nightmare setting' thing, or do you want me to just do the time skip already? I'm fine with either.


	8. Dance with the devil

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, last chapter in this period - promise!  
> Next one has the time skip I've been dying to do (and you probably as well)   
> I just figured (thanks to a few readers and commenter) if I had left it the way I did, it would be too confusing to explain later on and bla bla bla - I doubt anyone even reads this anyway~~

For the next three days, Chato was a sick mess. His whole body was in pain and burning up and his head felt like someone was trying to rip it open. Pablo even said that he was constantly heating up the air, so coming near him was like walking out when the sun was high. The nightmare always came back – always the same way the same people the same words the same tablet. He still hasn’t told anyone and didn’t really want to. The Garcias were getting really worried, but the worst thing of all was the spontaneous fire. Chato didn’t really have full control of his body and in turn his fire. No one knew what to do or how to help, so everyone was pretty tense.

The adoptee was afraid they’d kick him out or something, but Ana promised that wouldn’t happen. He would just have to keep away from the kids for a bit – until he was better – and stay in the house. It’s not like he wanted to move around anyway – he felt terrible. But the children did drop by when they could and as close they could. Nina would tell him what happened in school and that the others were missing him. Julia would come and brag about a test or a grade. And Ian just chatted away, keeping company. Lucky was moved upstairs so he wouldn’t get caught in the cross fire, but the kitty still came down and would rest near Chato for a while. It got the closest to the pyro out of everyone and could stand the heat the most.

* * *

 

Santana was back down in the nightmare Hell, the Lady of Hell talking to him again. As she forced him to look at the tablet again, he simply muttered to himself: “Why are you doing this…?” he didn’t expect an answer.

“Why? Because you are changing, little one. The gift bestowed upon you grows as you grow and changes as you change. Embrace it and all your suffering shall end!” she sounded more enthusiastic than usual.

“…” the pyro looked back at the tablet – he’s really gotten used to it, but somehow he just can’t stand it. But this time, he’d try. What can he lose, right?

“That’s it…” she whispered as he relaxed in her grip and his eyes suddenly felt really heavy.

“Embrace your true form…” the tablet lit aflame and the fire suddenly moved towards the boy. The Lady of Hell had already released him and backed away, letting the flame engulf the child.

“Raise now, my devil!” she smiled widely as the kid looked around the fire – it didn’t hurt him or even seem like it was trying to cause harm. It danced around and then started going inside him through the skin. Chato didn’t resist – it felt rather nice actually. The fire seemed kind. So he allowed it to imbue him with its power, until he felt himself change.

“There! Yes!” the Lady laughed as Santana suddenly transformed into the demon he saw on the tablet – only a bit smaller. He was literally on fire and didn’t seem human at all.

“Now go and do what you do best!” the Lady gave a soft smile as she set her hand on his chest – she was levitating in the air to get close enough – and Chato felt like he was being pushed out of the demon body.

* * *

 

The next thing he knew, he was standing in the middle of the living room as a magic circle appeared on the ground and burned itself into the wood. Looking around, he saw there were a few pieces of furniture which were on fire and he quickly took care of it.

And that’s what shocked him. He felt fine now. No killer headache, no burning limbs and no sickness. If anything, he felt better than before – he was able to take care of all the fire at once, something that he used to have to do by parts. He looked at his hands in awe, before the stomping of feet got his attention as someone ran down the stairs.

“Chato!” Ana and Pablo looked around, their eyes wide with worry as they looked at the boy.

“Morning,” he said back, giving a weak ass smile and scratching the back of his head. “Sorry… I didn’t mean to wake you…”

“Chato, you’re… You look fine,” the mother was surprised and walked over, not feeling the usual heat off him anymore.

“I feel fine too,” he added, looking at her before she embraced him.

“You had us so worried…” she whispered while Pablo just stood there, trying to act macho.

“I’m sorry…” the pyro said back. “And sorry about the room.”

“I’ve told you before – it’s just a room.”

“What happened here?” the father decided to walk over and noticed the mark in the wood. It didn’t seem wild like the rest of the burn marks.

“…I’m not sure…” the kid answered, looking down at it and could have sworn he heard the Lady laugh from the distance.

“Well, if everything is as fine as you say, go back to sleep Chato. You haven’t really been sleeping well, have you?” Ana brushed away a lock of hair from his face.

“Yeah, I’ll do that… Just need to go to the bathroom first…”

“You do that. We’ll be upstairs if anything happens, okay kiddo!” Pablo ruffled his black hair and made the child pout.

* * *

 

In the bathroom again, Santana had avoided looking into the mirror when in here. He didn’t fancy seeing the demon again. He drank something first before almost putting his face under the pipe, letting the cool water calm him down. What the hell happened? How did it happen and why? He knew who probably had the answers, but he didn’t want to see her again.

Looking up and deciding to check the mirror, the pyro let out a breath of relief when he saw his own normal face. Heck, he even gave a small smile. Running a hand through his hair and lifted it up just enough to notice something – a black line on the left temple. Rising his hair some more to get a better look, Chato saw it resembled a flame in a way – at least to him. Touching it, the line felt warm and didn’t seem to go off. He tried some water, but it didn’t help.

“…Tattoo?” he muttered, seeing a sort of resemblance there. He followed the line with his other hand and trailed it all the way to the back of his neck. There he felt a circle type mark there but that was that. There were no other marks.

“What the hell…?” he whispered, confused. Could this be the result of him turning into that demon thing in the dream? Maybe it was because of the mark? He had no idea, but was sure it had something to do with that nightmare.

“This just keeps getting better and better…” he mumbled to himself and made his way to the couch, plopping himself down. He felt tired, yet somehow still energetic. He was able to hear a puffball meow and smiled, sitting up and looking for the cat.

“Here Lucky,” he whispered and waved his hand at the animal. The kitty tilted its head and walked over, smelling his hand before moving its head back.

“What’s wrong?” Chato furrowed in confusion at the cat.

“Meow!” Lucky said back and sat down, looking up. It seemed to want to come close, but was too scared to do so.

“Hey, c’mon don’t be a jerk,” the pyro grumbled and reached with his hand to pet the cat, and it let him. Letting out a sigh, Santana was too tired to think anything about it. A few pats later and he was lying back down, yawing and falling asleep.

* * *

 

“My Lady, what now? The mortal-,”

“Has accepted the power I offered. It will grow with him and evolve, until it takes over. Men are such easy and predictable pray. As soon as power is presented to them, they crave it. All who have it, fear losing it,” the Lady smirked as he leaned her head on her hand.

“But, it’s a child. They have no desire for power yet, do they?”

“Everyone does… Some hide it better than others. All we have to do… is make the correct circumstance for him to truly embrace it. It might take some time, I admit, but I am patient and that boy still has to grow. I shall make sure that power is the only thing he ever needs.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yipi more of my lovely angst and suffering! Just you wait and see what happens next, weee~


	9. Sucker for pain

There were grunts, pants and the sound of someone getting punched. Someone staggered backwards, his back hitting the wall as he glared up at the five people in front of him. Using his hand, he wiped away the blood from his lip and swallowed.

“C’mon you little punk! Don’t tell me you were all bark and no bite!” one of the five laughed. He could be considered the leader here – Nilo.

“Really guys? On the last day of our last school year?” Chato managed a smirk as he watched them.

“Consider it a parting gift!” Billy laughed as he moved in closer, aiming a punch to the face, only to have the pyro evade it by dropping down.

“I really don’t need anything from you guys,” Santana raised his elbow and slammed it into Billy’s side, knocking him away and onto the stone ground.

“Where’d he learn to move like that?” Josh growled, his hands in a fighting stance.

“You pick up a few tricks when you live like me,” Chato shrugged and prepared for the next attack.

“Like what? An orphan?” Nilo’s words caught him off guard and in turn, allowed Josh and Vincent to move closer and deliver a kick and punch.

“You got him!” Vincent smirked as he looked over to the leader. Santana was doubled over and holding his stomach, where he was hit the hardest.

“We’ve done this a few times, right Chato? You know how to take a punch and give your own… but this time I brought a secret weapon,” Nilo walked over and sat on his heels so he could look at the dark-haired boy in the eyes. “I know how your mommy died and your dad was a drunk who got arrested. You’re a freaking orphan who someone took pity of and adopted you. No one really wants you,” he laughed and showed his teeth at the teen.

“…You really… shouldn’t go that far…” the pyro spoke through gritted teeth and closed his eyes. This was bad… really bad.

“Really? Why? Are you gonna cry?” Nilo laughed again and went to grab the long black hair, only to wince away as his hand felt like it got burned.

“What the hell?” he asked, backing away and looking at the slight burn mark.

“Exactly…” Santana mumbled out before opening his eyes, revealing them to be blazing with fire.

“W-What?!” the others yelled as they backed away, feeling the heat off the kid.

“Beat me if you like… But don’t you talk about what you don’t know!” Chato roared, his fiery eyes locked on the other boys who could do nothing but whimper and try to run.

* * *

 

“Chato, your father is here…” the Principle said, looking at the kid sitting on the chair in his office. Santana had remained quiet and still there, looking down at the ground. Without a word, the pyro stood up and walked past the school worker, outside the office and saw a familiar face.

“…” neither he nor Pablo said anything – they didn’t have to. Instead, the boy followed the man out of the school and towards the car parked in front of it. Getting inside and both of them were still quiet. Chato was constantly looking down while Pablo started the car.

“…That was the fifth time in the past three months…” the father finally spoke up, looking at the mirror to try and get a look at the boy.

“…They started it…” Santana answered, twirling some fire between his fingers.

“I know…” a short silence followed that as the car made a turn.

“What did you say happened?” Pablo asked again, keeping his eye on the road.

“That they were all carrying firelighters and were drinking before – which they were… So when they started to ‘play with fire’ they got themselves burned…”

“Did anyone object?”

“Two were knocked out… two were too scared to say anything… the last one tried but no one believed him…”

“I’m just glad you didn’t kill anyone…”

“I got close…” another silence. “Pablo, I’m sorry… I didn’t want to. It’s just-!” Chato stopped himself and looked at the side, feeling like nothing he said would help.

“I know you didn’t… But Chato, you’ve been losing control over that… Your power is clearly connected to your emotions. I’m just glad you passed the whole element school,” the father looked back at the fifteen-year-old.

“I’m guessing I won’t be going to high school then?” the kid gave back a weak smile.

“We’re not sure yet. Teenagers are pretty unpredictable and moody. Take a look at Nina and Julia. Puberty is a monster,” the two laughed at that before the car came to a stop at their house.

* * *

 

“Love, we’re back!” Pablo called as they entered the house. Currently, none of the kids were home. Nina was out with a few of her friends, celebrating, Ian was with his class at the cinema and Julia was shopping with her friends.

“Pablo, finally!” a man called as he stepped into the hall, relief on his face.

“James? What are you doing here?” the man was a friend of Pablo’s – a work friend anyway. And the fact he was here scared the father a bit for his wife.

“They said they needed to talk to you,” Ana walked up to him and hugged him, glad to finally see him and feel secure.

“…What’s going on?” Pablo asked as they walked into the kitchen, only to see two more men there – Liam and Frank.

“Pablo, someone is taking us down, one by one. And that’s not all – the cops know. Someone ratted us out,” Frank said, looking at the man. “Binks and Ozran got arrested three days ago. Kevin was shot to death, along with his wife and brother. This ain’t right,” they all knew about Chato and Diego, so they didn’t fear talking about it like this.

“Any clue as to who?” the father looked at his wife and adopted son, worry in his eyes.

“No…” the men shook their heads, really not knowing.

“…We’ll work on that in a bit… Can you find some safe place? Go into hiding?”

“Yeah, yeah, we can. We already told the others about it – they’d heading off the grid to.”

“Good. If someone is targeting us, then we won’t let ‘em have it that easily.”

* * *

 

“Pablo, are they coming for us to?” Ana asked as she prepared lunch as the husband called a few of his friends to warn them.

“If they are, they’ll regret it. I won’t let anything happen to you or the kids,” he assured and hugged her tight, resting his chin on her head.

“Pablo! Ana! Y-You should see this!” Chato called from the living room, sitting on the sofa with Lucky on his lap, patting the cat.

“What is it?” the two walked in and saw the TV was on.

“ _And today another member of the Los Reyes Locos Bangers gang has been arrested by authorities. The police still refuse to say how they know of this, but one thing is for sure – the streets are going to be a lot safer now,_ ” it went on to different news as Santana looked up at the two.

“Do you think they’ve had an undercover cop?” the pyro asked, trying to help as best he could.

“No… if that were the case, they would have tried to stop us from working all together.”

“Maybe they were just waiting?” there was no sure way that a cop wasn’t working undercover, but the father didn’t think so.

“No, it has to be something else… I think someone did tell on us…” Pablo sighed and rubbed his face.

“Love, you should get some rest… It’s been a stressful day,” Ana rubbed his back.

“I know…” he nodded and put his hand on hers. “Thank you,” he added and gave a kiss on her lips.

“Go on then. I’ll go pick up the kids when they’re done,” the wife winked in assurance.

“Okay, okay, I will,” Pablo laughed and the adoptee couldn’t help the smile on his face.

“You can talk to Chato about what happened at school today,” he added, nodding to the kid who let out a small whimper.

“Another fight?” Ana narrowed her eyes on the boys.

“…I swear,” she shook her head and looked at the dark-haired child.

“Come on Chato; let me see your wounds.”

“It’s nothing, really I’m fine!”

“Chato,” the way she said his name and the boy seemed to teleport into the kitchen. Lucky had ran upstairs, probably to find another soft spot to sleep.

“Good! And you,” she turned to Pablo, who paled a bit. “Go. To. Bed.”

“Y-Yes ma’am!”

* * *

 

“So, what happened this time?” Ana asked as she examined the bruised chest of her son.

“Some guys ganged up on me…” Chato answered, wincing slightly as she touched the part around his ribs. It hurt like hell.

“Why?” she asked and applied some cream that helped with the pain.

“I dunno… They’ve been on my ass for a long time…” he admitted, wincing again at the pain.

“Language!” Ana gave him a sharp look at the word ‘ass’.

“Lo siento…” he mumbled as she finished with his bruised ribs.

“Does it hurt anywhere else?” she asked as he put his shit back on.

“No, I’m fine…” he sighed, the pain still there but at least it was kinda weaker.

“Alright. Take it easy until it’s all healed up, okay?” she set a hand on his shoulder.

“Promise,” he gave her a smile as he made his way up to his room.

It hasn’t changed much – the posters were different, now with bands or other items instead of animals. It was also a bigger mess and seemed more… dark. The two boys also had books, notes and other items littered all over. Near Chato’s bed were also many candles, with which he practiced his precision and control.

“Oi, Lucky, get off the shirt!” the pyro frowned as he saw the cat lying on the black T-shit, leaving his fur on it.

“Meow!” the animal said back and jumped off, stretched its legs before sitting down.

“Sheesh,” Santana rolled his eyes and went to pat the pet when he heard a car pull up next to the house.

“ _Probably another member…_ ” the kid thought with a sigh and rubbed the cat under the chin.

“Meow!” it called as the kid heard the door open, followed by a scream.

* * *

 

**I don't speak Spanish so I'm using Google Translate - sorry in advance if I write anything wrong.**

**Lo siento… - Sorry...**


	10. Burn it down

“Pablo? Ana?” Chato called as he rushed downstairs. The scream he heard belonged to the woman that was for sure – but why?

“What happened?!” he yelled as he arrived down, seeing the front door open. There were sounds coming from the kitchen, so the kid ran there, his hands already covered in fire.

“Chato, how nice of you to join us,” as soon as he entered, the pyro froze, the fire gone and his blood running cold. His eyes were wide open as he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

“Come now, is that how you greet your father after such a long time?” Diego stood there, a gun at Ana’s head and a hand over her mouth, while Pablo lay on the ground, bleeding from the head. The boy couldn’t see if he was shot or just wounded – then again, he couldn’t even think properly.

“This isn’t happening…” he whispered, lightly shaking his head as he watched his father’s grin grow.

“Oh, but it is! Ain’t it great?” Diego set the gun closer to the woman’s head and all she could do was let out muffled sobs and whimpers.

“How?! How are you out?!” Chato yelled, his fists clenched to try and keep them from shaking.

“Oh, it’s simple really. I helped the cops with something and they shortened my sentence. It just took a while before I agreed to the deal. I had to make it work, right?” the gunman smirked as he explained, seeing his son’s face turn to fear and horror.

“It was you… You told them where the others were…” Chato was stuck between fear and anger.

“They got what they deserved!” Diego hissed, bearing his teeth.

“And I know it was Pablo’s idea! My best friend – he betrayed me! Now I’ll return the favor,” the man smirked again and leaned in closer to the female licking her cheek. She was crying already, but dared not move for fear of getting shot.

“Leave her out of it!” the pyro called in a plea, feeling as powerless as always when his father was near. Only this time, it wasn’t he who was getting hurt.

“I was wondering if you’d say that,” Diego raised his head up, looking down at the kid with a sort of superiority before kicking Pablo in the side.

“Agh!” the wounded man groaned, curling up. But the gunman turned him to his back with his foot, forcing him to look at him.

“I’ll leave this place… if you come with me!”

* * *

 

There was a silence, accompanied by Pablo’s pants and Ana’s sobs as Chato’s heart seemed to stop for a few moments. This couldn’t be happening…

“What do you say, son?” Diego said the word in such a way that it sent chills up the kid’s spine.

“Don’t…” the other man managed to speak, before a kick was delivered into his side.

“If you don’t, I’ll kill both of them. Their blood will be on your hands,” the older Santana explained, pushing the gun into Ana’s head.

“O-Okay!” Chato yelled, his eyes closed. He couldn’t bear it – no way. He wasn’t about to let this crazy man kill the two people who took him in.

“Wonderful!” Diego grinned and shoved the woman away, but kept his gun aimed at her. “Let’s go home,” he added, moving over Pablo and taking hold of his son’s arm.

“I’ll make sure to take good care of you,” his voice was dark and sadistic as he smirked at the kid. The pyro lowered his head and allowed himself to be dragged away. But the two didn’t get far, before the gunman stopped, looking down.

“I can’t… let you…” Pablo worded, his hand holding onto Diego’s leg. Ana was crying as she watched in horror, shaking on the ground.

“Too bad,” the other man looked down in disgust before aiming the gun and pulling the trigger. The shot rang all around the house as the bullet hit Pablo in the head. His body dropped limp as a pool of blood surrounded him.

“PABLO!” Ana screamed, hands covering her mouth as she couldn’t move. Chato was frozen where he stood – eyes wide and empty as if not believing.

“Shut it!” Diego hissed and fired off a second bullet – this one hitting the woman in the chest. She collapsed on her back, eyes quickly dimming as she got her own pool of blood.

“Damn them…” the father grumbled as he frowned at the dead bodies. He turned around, his hand still gripping his son’s, and wanted to leave, but the kid wouldn’t move.

“Chato!” he growled, glaring at the child, whose face was covered by his long hair.

* * *

 

“You little brat!” he added, pulling at the arm. Suddenly, the boy’s hands lit up in fire, burning the older man’s hand. Backing away with a yell, Diego saw the burned flesh and looked at the pyro.

“What do you think you’re doing, boy?!” he growled, but the pyro didn’t respond.

“What? Are you going to kill me?” he mocked, hands outstretched. Finally, the other Santana reacted.

“Yes…” the voice was powerful and booming, clearly not the kids. Chato turned his head to his father, his eyes burning with fire as his whole body seemed to burn. Diego backed off again, looking in fear before pointing his gun at the boy.

“Yeah right!” he was shaking but still pulled the trigger – the bullet however melted before it could reach the pyro.

“AGH!” Chato screamed as fire seemed to roar out of his mouth. In the next moment, he transformed into a demon-like form, fire exploding all around and burning everything. Diego got swallowed up by the fire, his whole body in flames as he tried to shake it off, but anywhere he went there was fire. Wood cracked as glass shattered. Things started to crumble under the heat as the whole house burned. A scream was heard before Diego’s body fell down, burned to a crisp and still burning and burning, until it was nothing but ash.

The demon-figure turned around, seeing the two other bodies which seemed unharmed. Another roar escaped and more fire consumed the place as the ceiling collapsed, crashing down. Sires whirled in the distance, but it was too late now. 

The last thing Chato remembers was walking out of the fire, onto the grass in front of the house and dropping to his knees. The fire vanished and he collapsed down onto the soft ground, feeling and hearing the fire behind him. He was crying as his vision blurred and could not move. Moments after, he lost consciousness.

* * *

 

“Where are you going to do now?” Chato asked, sitting on the hospital bed in one of the rooms.

“…Our aunt and uncle will take us in…” Julia said as she sat on a chair nearby, looking with tired and sad eyes.

“…I’m really sorry…”

“Thank you…” she whispered and wiped away the tear that slipped down her cheek.

“…How are Nina and Ian?” he asked carefully, biting his lip at the question.

“Nina is… coping with it, I think… Ian… he’s sleeping now, after crying for so long…” she answered, intertwining her fingers.

“I just… I just hope they get better…” her voice was trembling as she spoke.

“I’m sure they will…” he managed a weak smile, but felt himself shake.

“Are you really not coming with?” she looked up at him, eyes almost pleading.

“I can’t… I’m sorry, Nina, but…” he trailed off, eyes closed and swallowed.

“I… understand. I think…” she nodded, her eyes closed as well.

“Just… keep in touch, yeah? You’re still family, Chato…”

“I’ll try…” a silence followed that as the two looked each other in the eyes.

“I’m gonna miss you,” she cried, moving and hugging him tightly, letting her tears fall.

“I’m gonna miss you guys too,” he answered, hugging her back and crying himself.

“You gotto keep the other two safe, okay?” Chato mumbled, still in the hug.

“I will… ‘Sides, I’m older than you…” she tightened her grip.

“In years yeah…” a sad smile came to his lips as both of them sobbed and cried, letting their sadness show. Julia was even suffocating him a bit, but Santana said nothing about it.

* * *

 

The funeral was attended by all the close relatives and even some of Pablo’s friends. Ian was crying the whole time, Nina carried the roses, Julia kept her bother calm and Chato stood by the grave. Their bodies were found under the house, but everything was so burned, it was hard to tell. The bullet wounds however, proved that someone had killed them; however Diego’s body was never found. Instead, they questioned Chato and he answered everything as best he could. The fire was started because the murderer shot the gas bomb used in the kitchen and it exploded.

The questioning happened after Santana was taken to a hospital when the police, firefighters and ambulance found him. They came a few minutes after everything went up in smoke and were surprised to find a kid outside. But they didn’t’ question it – figured the kid’s been through enough already.

The other kids were informed when they got back and they were all devastated. They all cried and none of them wanted to believe it. To the adoptee’s surprise, no one blamed him for the fire – they probably knew it happened because of him. They asked about what happened – about the truth – but the pyro couldn’t bring himself to tell them.

* * *

 

“What are you going to do now?” Julia asked as she and Chato sat outside the hospital. Their uncle had come to pick them up and Ian was already asleep in the car while Nina went to the bathroom.

“…I got an idea…” he answered, looking at the falling sun.

“…Are you going to pick up my father’s work?” he turned to her with a surprised expression and she gave a small smile back.

“He told me about… everything. His job and how he met you. About your dad too…” she was the oldest of the kids and was already picking up on things – Pablo figured she deserved to know.

“I see…” Santana answered, letting out a sigh.

“I don’t think any less of you, you know? I actually think you’re really strong.”

“Thanks… And yeah, I think I’ll join the gang… I’ve been in since I was a kid – both my fathers were part of it… I guess I should continue the line…”

“Well, good luck with that and I hope you find some sort of happiness.”

“Thanks. I hope you like your new life as well.”

* * *

 

“My Lady! The mortal!”

“Yes Lidia, I know… It’s all working as I expected. Humans really are predictable.”

“What do we do now, my Lady?”

“We wait. He has lost everything now. Everything, expect his powers. Even if he doesn’t accept his fate, he will do as he should. Destruction and death surrounded him now – it’s all he knows. And he will pass it on. The Fire will consume him and leave behind nothing, but a devil. After all, who could love a monster?”


	11. Can we start again?

Chato walked with a bag over his shoulder down the street, passing a few buildings and houses on the way. He turned the corner at the Pizzeria and could see the warehouse – his destination. Looking over his shoulder to make sure he wasn’t being followed, Santana walked down the path, past the fence and arrived at the large door. Knocking three times and whistling, he waited a few seconds before the door opened and he walked in.

“You made it,” a man with black hair, stubble and wearing a blue shirt said as the kid walked into the new-lit place while the door closed back down.

“Wasn’t really that hard Ed,” the pyro answered with a grin.

“Right, you have been here with your old man,” another man spoke up, arms crossed. He was blonde with a mustache, along with a Russian accent.

“A few times. Surprised you remember Vlad,” even Ed had to laugh at that – Vlad did have a bad habit of getting drunk.

“I still don’t like the fact we got a kid ‘round ‘ere,” a ginger in a red shirt grumbled.

“Jimmy, the ‘kid’ right here has been in this gig longer than you,” Ed frowned, giving him a cold look.

“Really now? So what! What good is a kid anyway?” Jimmy narrowed his eyes and stepped closer to the boy, looking down on him.

“…Chato, care to show him?” Vlad suggested, getting a sigh from the other man.

“With pleasure,” Santana grinned and ignited his hands, lifting them up to the ceiling and releasing a few blasts of fire. The ceiling was made of steel anyway – it wouldn’t break that soon. After a few seconds, the pyro stopped and extinguished the fire. Jimmy had taken a few steps back and looked with fear at the kid.

“Y-Y-You’re-!” he couldn’t properly speak as his voice shook.

“See? There’s a lot more to the kid than meets the eye,” the older dark-haired man smiled and set a hand on the younger one’s shoulder.

“In a few years, I’m sure you’ll be running the show Chato.”

“Can’t wait to see that.”

* * *

 

“I’m sorry about what happened,” Ed said as he and Chato were alone. The older man had given the kid a sort tour of his new home. It wasn’t anything special, but it beat the streets and anything he had when he was with his father.

“Thanks…” the pyro said back, giving a small sigh.

“Hey, you okay? If you don’t feel up to it…” the man looked back, concern on his face.

“I’m fine. Just…” another sigh and the kid rubbed is face. “A lot happened in a week and the hospital food was shit.”

“Haha!” Ed laughed wholeheartedly. “If that’s the case, let’s get something to eat, eh? I know this great place where they have burgers or pizzas,” he set a hand on the pyro’s shoulder.

“They got kebabs?” Chato grinned as he looked up, getting the man to laugh again.

“Sure do kid! C’mon, they’re always open. And this time, it’s on me.”

“’This time’?” Santana raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, soon you’ll be making some money yourself. You’ll get a cut out of any jobs you help with. Then you’ll treat me eh?”

“Haha, yeah, sure, sounds like a plan!”

“Good! Let’s go then!”

* * *

 

“So, tell me about how you lived Chato,” Ed asked as the two walked along the street in the night. They had dressed for the cool air as they were going to eat at the place.

“Not much to say…” the kid mumbled, hands in his pocket.

“C’mon, you sayin’ nothing interesting happened to you?”

“Depends on what’s interesting,” the boy grinned as he looked up, seeing the man roll his eyes.

“I dunno, never had kids,” the two chuckled at that, before a yell got their attention.

“S-Someone, please, help!” a woman cried from the alley near them and the duo rushed there. And just in time as well.

“Shut up you bitch and gimme all your money!” a man hissed, pointing a gun at her.

“Please, just – just let me go…” she mumbled, shaking on the ground as she held her head.

“Hey! What’s going on?” Ed called, knowing full well, but he wanted the mugger’s attention.

“Look what you did you bitch!” the man growled and grabbed he woman, holding the gun to her head. She cried out, but didn’t try to fight.

“No one move or – or I’ll shot!” the mugger warned, looking panicked. Chato sort of froze there, his eyes blank as he recalled the way Diego held Ana – it was like déjà vu.

“Hey now man, calm down…” Ed raised his hands, showing he was no threat. “Just… let the woman go, okay?”

“Ain’t gonna happen pal!” the man moved the gun closer, his words quick and rash. “Just – just get outta here! I don’t – I don’t wanna hurt you!”

“Let. Her. Go!” Chato said, his eyes wide open and his teeth showing. He looked angry but at the same time, from Ed’s point of view, the kid was shaking.

“Don’t make **me** hurt you!” the pyro’s words had a sort of echo, a power, as they burned around the small alley. The mugger looked n fear and released the woman, dropping to his knees and covering his face.

“God, please, no!” he cried out, not even looking as Ed helped the woman out of the alley. Chato calmed down when the mugger begged and panted, feeling exhausted.

* * *

 

“You still didn’t tell me why you went so far to help that old lady…” Chato mumbled, poking the salad in the kebab, leaning on his other hand.

“Well,” Ed said with a mouth full of the hamburger. “Women and children ought to be helped whenever… I know, strange for a mobster to say that, but it’s a sort of rule everyone follows. Mostly,” he explained, looking thoughtfully at one point in the place.

“By ‘mostly’ you mean my dad…”

“Well, yes, but Diego wasn’t the only one. There’ve been a few, most of which are in prison or dead.”

“So… what happens if there’s a woman or a kid in a place? I mean…”

“I know what you mean and um… We usually just, let ‘em go. Lemme explain: there are different kinds of jobs we do – you only know the ones Diego got in you in, right?”

“Yeah, robbery and stuff.”

“Well, we also deal in protection – especially for our streets – transportation of certain goods, black market trading and weapons manufacturing. That means, there aren’t many women or kids around when we work.”

“But, there’s more, ain’t it?”

“Smart kid… Yeah. We also collect debts for any business we do. So, if a guy decides not to pay, we drop by for a visit. In those cases, we tend to get the guy out in our place or make sure no one else is home. Don’t get me wrong kid – there’ve been women who owed us but… Well, it’s different with ‘em…” Ed clearly wasn’t sure how to properly explain it.

“Sexist,” Chato coughed out, grinning while the older man frowned.

“Not really… They usually owe us for different reason. Guys owe us for the same reasons some time too, so we can sort of… expand their time.”

“Time for paying the debt?” the kid offered.

“Yeah, that. It also kinda depends on who owes us… If it’s old Nana from across the street, we wait till she’s ready. If it’s the asshole Jackson over the block, we kick his ass,” Ed grinned as he explained.

“…That’s a lot more complex than I figured it out for…” Santana scratched his head.

“Too much for ya?” the adult crossed his arms and smirked.

“Never said that! ‘Sides, I’m a quick learn,” the pyro grinned back, showing he was ready.

“Good to know, ‘cause you start tomorrow!” Ed announced, finishing off his food.

“Really? With what?” the boy blinked, surprised to start so soon.

“You’ll help me with an arms deal. Need some fire power if things go south,” the man explained with a full mouth.

“Oh joy…” Chato rolled his eyes – naturally, it’d be because of his power.

“Hey, c’mon now, you need to learn eventually! That power of yours ain’t always gonna be the right answer. You gotto learn the language,” that answer actually surprised the kid.

“I guess…” was the only answer he could give.

“Good, now finish up. We get up early in the morning and if you ain’t up, I’ll flip your bed over,” Ed threatened with a grin.

“Haha, yeah okay, you do that amigo!” the kid laughed.

“So you do speak Spanish! Damn, I thought it was just for show.”

“I do speak it! Fluently even! I just… I dunno, never had a reason to really use it.”

“I’ll give you one now – our bosses are your kin. Maybe you could get some good deals for us eh?”

“You want me to talk Spanish to a bunch of Spanish mobsters? Sure, why not? What could possibly go wrong?”

“C’mon kid, have a bit of faith. I thought Pablo taught you.”

“He did… but it’s a bit hard to ‘have faith’ after everything that’s happened…”

“I know Chato, but trust me, things get better. I lost both my parents to a lunatic and the orphanage I lived in got shut down. But I’m still here. Just, hold on, yeah?”

“Yeah." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so, I got no real idea what the hell I'm doing - just going with the flow.   
> Sorry if this chapter is... boring? I just kinda wanted to set this up - yipi...   
> Also, should I add some tags? If so, which ones? I'm new to this place, so yeah, and suggestions would be really appreciated! Don't forget to comment and tell me what you think =P


	12. Nightmare

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was kinda hard to get together properly and it probably seems really filed up so, sorry about that ^^''

Chato was tossing and turning on the bed, frowning as his mouth moved, but no words left his lips. Another nightmare, but this one was different than the usual ones…

“ ** _Chato… Chato…_** ” someone was calling his name as he stood in the endless void of darkness.

“Who’s there?” he called, his voice echoing in the void as he tried to see.

“ ** _Chato…_** ” this one was clearer – a woman’s even – and the kid turned around. “ ** _Why did you do it…_** ” she sounded sad and the pyro finally created some fire to see better.

She was a woman in her mid-thirties with long, black hair and black eyes. Her face struck something in the boy – something he couldn’t explain.

“ _Why do I feel like I know her?_ ” he asked himself, watching her expression go from a sad smile to crying. She reached out a hand and Santana instinctively reached for it.

“ ** _My sweet, little boy…_** ” she whispered when their fingers touched. “ ** _Why did you kill me?_** ” in the next moment, his hands ignited and fire shot out, burning the woman in front of him.

“No!” he screamed, trying to stop it, but the flames wouldn’t listen.

“ ** _You were created to kill, boy,_** ” a man hissed, appearing next to the woman, who was still on fire. “ ** _Apparently killing your mother wasn’t enough – you had to kill your father as well._** ”

“No, no! That’s not-!” Chato closed his eyes, shaking his head. The fire still burned and this time, it spread to the man, swallowing him as well.

“I didn’t want to…” the boy whispered, not daring to look at the burning bodies.

“ ** _I know you didn’t…_** ” the pyro opened his eyes wide as another man spoke. He was looking down, his back to the kid.

“Pablo…” his voice was shaking as the said man stood by the flaming forms.

“ ** _But you still did it…_** ” the man added, turning around and Chato could see the bloody wound in his head, bleeding out.

“ ** _You’re out of control Chato…_** ” Ana spoke next to the boy, who scrambled away as her own wound bleed into the void.

“ ** _If you killed your own family… then no one is safe…_** ”

“ ** _You turned into a monster and no one can love a monster…_** ”

“Stop! Please! STOP!” he screamed at the top of his lungs as a ring of fire erupted from him, spreading outwards and leeching onto the other two, taking them as well.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” the boy said to himself over and over again, shaking as he refused to open his eyes.

“ **Why should you be sorry for what you are?** ” a new, but familiar voice spoke and the child didn’t want to look. No, he wouldn’t – not now.

“ **Child, they will fear you no matter what… For them, you shall always be a monster,** ” she spoke softly as he could feel her come closer. So close in fact, she put a hand on his shoulder.

 **“But I do not see you as such…** ” finally opening his eyes, Chato saw the familiar body of the Lady of Hell, smiling down at him.

“ **If they cannot accept you, they will hunt you. They will try and destroy you. You shouldn’t allow them. Show them you are not to be taken lightly…** ”

“I don’t want to hurt anyone…” he said back, looking away from her. He knew this was a dream and didn’t have enough energy to actually fight back to her.

“ **But they want to hurt you. They will hurt you. Someone as powerful as you should never let himself be pushed around. You are a God among minions – take back what they have taken from you. Become that which they hate and fear – give them real reason to do so! Do that and I promise you, no one shall ever tell you “No” again nor shall they harm you,** ” with that, she vanished, leaving the boy alone with burning bodies and eyes wide with confusion.

“ _What do I do…?_ ” he asked himself, more lost than ever before.

* * *

 

“Chato, oi, you here?” Ed waved his hand in front of the boy as they drove down the street.

“Huh?” Santana blinked, looking up from his daze.

“Sheesh, if you’re tired, you should’ve said something,” the man sighed and turned the corner.

“Sorry, couldn’t sleep last night…” the kid shook his head; trying to get rid of the nightmare he had only a few hours ago.

“…Yeah, I think I heard you screaming…” the older man stopped at a red light and sighed again.

“Look, if there’s anything you wanna talk about, go ahead. I may not be your father or whatnot, but consider me the cool uncle,” he looked at the kid who snorted in laughter.

“It’s nothing too bad. I’ll get used to it…” the pyro said with a sad smile as the green light came.

“Ya know, it helps when you talk it out,” Ed shrugged, eyes on the road. “To anyone really. It doesn’t have to be me, but just, someone,” he added.

“…Yeah, but who’d really listen? I don’t exactly have friends,” the kid sighed, closing his eyes for a few seconds.

“…I hear writing about it can help to,” the man said halfheartedly before slowing the car. “We’re here. You ready?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

* * *

 

They were meeting behind a car shop, so the two made their way there. Chato was a bit nervous but he hid it well while Ed looked around the place.

“You’re here, finally,” a Russian man spoke as he walked up to them.

“Hey, we’re early it seems,” Ed shrugged as Vladimir nodded.

“I was getting worried. And-,” he cut himself off when he saw the kid. “Why did you bring the child here?” he sounded confused.

“He has to learn sometime right? Well, there’s no time like the present.”

“I couldn’t agree more, Monsieur Roger, was it?” another man spoke, French accent, as he walked towards them with two more behind him. One was bulky and bald, while the other was smaller but seemed the smart type. However, the smaller one was frowning the whole time.

“That’s right. And you must be Julian Arpin. Charmed.”

“Oui, a pleasure as well. Now, shall we ‘get down to business’ as you Americans say?”

“That’s why we’re here, ain’t it?” Ed smiled as he turned to Vlad.

“Get the case,” he mumbled, to which the Russian nodded and headed inside the shop.

“Apportez la caisse,” Julian nodded to one of the two, who turned around and walked up to the truck parked not too far from here. The other guard’s frown seemed to have deepened with this.

“Excuse-moi, but why is there a child present?” the man looked down at Chato, who remained stoic in expression, but he was tense.

“He’s my protégé, here to learn as much as he can!” Ed gave a confidant smile and set his hand on the boy’s shoulder, getting him to relax a bit.

“Ah…” the Frenchman gave a frown of his nose.

“Don’t worry mon amie, he’s safe for business,” the man assured, giving another winning smile.

“If you say so, friend,” Julia gave a slight nod of his head at the word just as Vlad and the other guy walked back to the group.

* * *

 

“As promised, new weapons for you and your men,” Arpin had one of his companions open the crate, revealing it to be filled with various firearms. “Best grade weapons around I might add.”

“They sure look the part,” Ed grinned as he saw them. “They work, right?” he added with a small hint of mischief in his voice.

“You wound me, friend. Do you truly think I deal in broken goods?” Julian set a hand on his chest and faked a wounded face.

“I just like to make sure, mon amie. A little presentation wouldn’t hurt, right?”

“Of course not. But then I do not except refusal,” the main man turned to the smaller guard.

“Estelle, do show these men we deal with only the best,” the said man nodded and reached for one of the guns inside. The three opposite the Frenchmen tensed and Vladimir even reached for the gun behind his back, just in case.

Estelle first twirled the gun in his hands before aiming it at the air. He showed off how to properly hold it and did a few quick moves. After a few seconds of that, he spun around, the gun aimed at Vlad and the gunman was almost snarling.

“Qu'est-ce que tu fais?!” Julian called as he saw his man turn to the buyers.

“Damn you!” the Russian hissed, pulling his gun out as well.

“Ecume russe!” Estelle hissed and would have pulled the trigger in the next second, had fire not burned his hands.

“Agh!” he screamed, releasing the gun and watching his burning skin. It died down quickly however, when Julian shot the man in the head.

“My sincere apologies… I did not know Estelle was such of a man…” the boss was frowning as he watched the man. Then his eyes went to the boy, whose hands were still aflame.

“And this is… a very interesting child…” he added, his eyes studying the pyro.

“Yeah, he is,” Ed stepped in front of Chato, glaring at the Frenchman. “But back to the matter that one of your men almost killed us!”

“…Oui… I give you a third of the weapons for free. I clearly need to find better men…” Arpin shook his head and set the gun back under his belt.

“Also, if we are on the subject of buying and paying… The boy-,”

“Is not for ‘sale’ pal,” there was so much anger in that sentence, that it almost burned stronger than Santana’s fire.

“I understand. But truly, you have gotten yourself a weapon there. Should be easy to control the streets with it, no?” the pyro bit his lip and extinguished the fire, looking at the side.

“Let’s just get this over with…” Roger grumbled.

* * *

 

“Chato?” Ed asked as he knocked on the boy’s door. Since they got back to the house, Santana hasn’t eaten or said anything. He just went up to his room and hasn’t come out since.

“C’mon kid, say something…” he whispered, leaning his head on the wooden door.

“…What?” at the sound of the boy’s voice, Ed looked up.

“That’s something,” he said back, feeling relived. “Can I come in?” he asked carefully after a few seconds of silence.

“…Door’s open…” taking a small breath, the man softly opened the door and saw the boy sitting on his bed, under a blanket, playing with fire.

“Hey,” he said casually as he closed the door behind him.

“Hey…” the kid said back not so casually, not even looking up.

“How’re you feeling?” Roger asked trying to think of what to say.

“…I dunno…” the man bit his lip and let out a sigh.

“If it’s about what Julian said before…” the pyro winced a bit at the memory. “Don’t listen to him. He deals in slavery so it’s kinda natural for him to say shit like that.”

“But, it’s true, ain’t it? My dad said the same thing,” in the next second, Chato felt two hands on his shoulders and a man looking him in the eyes.

“Your father was a bastard and a rat. Whatever he said, was shit. Never, **ever** , take the words of a snake to heart, you hear me? You are not a monster or a weapon or whatever, got it? You’re a kid who’s had a messed up life and has fire powers. There’ve been weirder things in the world than that. That power if yours and yours alone, got it? You do what you want with it – be it roast a chicken, burn a forest or melt a car. God supposedly gave you that gift and he gave it to _you_ for a reason. Don’t let some asshole tell you it’s a weapon if you heat up old nana’s tea,” Chato could only nod at what Ed was saying, trembling in his hold. It wasn’t firm, but more assuring. And it sounded a bit like what the Lady of Hell was saying – the power is your own – use it.

“You okay now?” Ed asked after a minute, still looking at the kid.

“Yeah, better… Thanks…” Santana nodded, wiping away some liquid from his eyes.

“Good. Because I really ought to thank you for what you did. Not only did you save Vlad but you didn’t kill the guy. That’s a smart move, otherwise we could have had some more complications with Julian,” Roger leaned back, giving the pyro some space.

“Oh and, great control you got over that fire of yours. Going for his hands? Perfect!”

“Pablo helped me focus on it – on control. It really helps.”

“Well, tell me how he did it and maybe I’ll help you with that. But for now, what do ya say to some lunch eh? Vlad’s cooking so it’s either gonna be top class or it’s gonna kill us.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, question for you guys (again)   
> Is there anything in particular you want to see in this time (this age, whatever) do tell, because I only got one or two more things ready fore we do another time skip (two years I think...)  
> ALSO! Got any tag suggestions I should add or remove?


	13. When Ed isn't home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this one took a while to write...   
> It's kinda long compared to the others, but you'll see why.   
> Hope you enjoy.

** Day 1 **

“Boy, are you sure about this?” Vladimir asked as he watched the kid stand on the grass in the backyard, wearing nothing but some swimming trunks.

“Yeah, sure amigo. Now’s the best time since Ed’s out for a week. Got all the time we need,” Chato nodded, not sounding as sure as he felt.

“I hope you know what you’re doing…” the Russian muttered and picked up the large bucket on the ground. He could still see some of the ice inside it, but most of it was been melted by the water.

“Of course,” Santana nodded eagerly as he watched the blonde swing the bucket backwards, before forward again, this time the water flowing out of it.

Focusing and letting out a strong breath, the pyro watched the water fly towards him and tried to release enough heat to melt it all. He could feel the heat expand from his body and even gave a small smile as he thought it worked but-

“AGH!” he screamed as the iced water crashed into him. He was shaking and running around the garden, trying to warm himself up, while Vlad stood there and shook his head.

“Es muy frio!” the kid yelled, getting the bits which landed in his pants out.

“This? It is nothing. You should see how we swim in Russia!” the blonde understood Spanish very well, having worked with people who spoke it for a long time.

“Not. Funny!”

“Yes you’re right… It’s hilarious,” the blonde grinned before grabbed the towel he brought along just in case and trapped the pyro in it when he passed by.

“I told this was stupid,” he added as the boy wrapped himself in the warm blanket.

“I-I-It’s not! I-I-It helps w-w-with my p-p-powers,” Chato muttered out, still shaking as he rubbed his hands together and managed to create a small flame.

“How about we go back in yes? I’ll make you some warm soup,” Vladimir smiled as he shook his head, nodding to the house.

“S-Sounds g-good… J-Just don’t tell E-Ed ‘bout t-this…”

“My lips are sealed comrade.”

“T-Thanks Uncle Vlad…” the man was a bit taken back by the ‘uncle’ but he smiled none the less as he helped the still half frozen boy walk inside.

* * *

 

It was hours later, when the pyro was back to his usual high body temperature, that the next test came. Naturally, it was Santana’s idea again – like the one before and the ones to follow.

“We should do this outside first,” Vlad mumbled as he saw Chato set three candles onto the table.

“Hmm… I guess,” the kid seemed to think for a minute before nodded.

As they went outside, they set the candles down there. The kid was a few meters away whit Vladimir standing nearby with a bucket of water, a towel over his shoulder and a fire extinguisher.

“You’re being excessive…”

“I am being prepared.”

“Well, I’ve never done it at this range… I usually just had to light it.”

“That’s not reassuring…” the blonde said with a sigh as the boy focused on the candles and ignited his hands, waiting a second to adjust the heat and then released a ball of fire towards the candle. It missed completely, hitting behind it, and burning up the grass there.

“…Good aim…”

“It’s hard to hit that little thing okay?” Chato grumbled and turned to the second on. Focusing again, only more on the distance, he released another blast and it hit the candle, but the flame was too big and it melted the whole candle instead.

“Third time’s the charm yes?”

“…” with a small glare, Chato looked to the smiling Russian and to the last candle. For the third time, he focused on the fire, making it smaller than before and then going to the aim. This time, the fire flew from only two fingers and hit the mark perfectly, lighting up the candle.

“Yes!” Chato cheered just as the wind blew by and put out the fire.

“…You still need some work,” the blonde muttered, seeing the boy sigh in frustration.

* * *

 

** Day 2 **

“Boy, this is stupid. I’m telling you now, stop,” Vlad shook his head and ran a hand through his hair.

“It’s fine! I need to learn this anyway,” Chato shrugged, looking from the open freezer. This time he actually had a T-shirt and some pants.

“I’ll come back every hour. If it gets too bad, just yell,” the blonde told, still not believing he was letting this happen.

“It won’t get too bad,” the kid assured, giving a smile before the Russian closed the freezer door. In a minute, the cold started flowing regularly and Santana focused on his body heat. The goal was to have a constant temperature in the cold. He actually focused on it with his breathing, taking in the cold air and heating it in his lungs, before exhaling the warm breath. But his hands and feet were getting cold too quickly, so within three hours, he had to get out.

“Three hours for your first time? Not bad,” Vladimir admitted, cooking some soup again as Chato sat by the table, covered in a blanket.

“W-We got a weak. I’m s-sure I can do it by t-then,” he assured, giving another grin.

“Assuming you survive the week…”

* * *

 

Later that day, the two did the test with the candles again and Chato hit two out of three. Unfortunately, the one he missed landed on a pile of old leafs lying around, causing them to burst into flame. The two were quick to move into action, but not quick enough for Leon – the annoying old man living across them – to see.

“What are you two doing?” he called over the fence, his eyes narrow as Vlad held the fire extinguisher and Santana waved his hands around.

“…Playing a game,” the blonde said, looking at the kid who could only shrug. “Yes. It’s an old game me and my brothers used to play.”

“…Really? Russians played with fire?” Leon never did like his neighbors – and no one liked him.

“You would be surprised with everything we have done,” Vladimir said back with a smirk.

“Honestly, you are some weirdo. And forcing a kid to play as well? If I see anything on fire, I’m calling the police!”

“Da, da malen'kiy chelovek , idti i igrat' s igrushkoy kukly!” the blonde growled, making the annoying man take a few steps back.

“W-What did you say?”

“The truth,” and with a final glare, Leon left back into his house.

“…What **did** you say?” Chato asked, blinking as he tried to piece it together.

“Perhaps when you are older, yes?” Vlad grinned and patted his head.

* * *

 

“Boy, one last test today,” Vladimir called as he stood in the kitchen. The day was almost over and Chato was just getting out of the shower.

“You’re giving it this time?” the kid blinked, a towel over his wet hair as he walked in.

“Yes. Roast the meat,” the Russian grinned, motioning to the red-pink meat on the plate.

“Shouldn’t be too hard,” Santana shrugged and pulled off the towel, running it over his head and letting it drag his hair behind it. That’s when the blonde noticed the black line on the right side of his temple. Narrowing his eyes, he only saw it for a second, before the hair covered it again.

“This will be your dinner for today, so be careful,” he added, getting the kid tense.

“Thanks…” was the sarcastic remark as the pyro stepped closer and put both hands above the meat. Ana usually asked him to heat something up and Pablo would have him help at the grill, but he’s never done it like this. With steady hands and careful manipulation, Chato created the flames and steadily cooked the meat until he figured it would be ready.

“There,” he spoke, taking a step back and letting the Russian closer.

“Nicely done… It seems your ability has gotten better. Compared to the candles, this is almost perfect,” Vlad nodded, slicing up the meat.

“Lo intento,” Santana grinned, proud to have mastered it this far.

* * *

 

** Day 3 **

They started off with the candles and quickly finished as well. The many times Chato had done it now - about three times a day – all paid off as the last round of candles were lit with hardly any effort. In the house even, so they didn’t have to worry about Leon. But then the pyro got another idea.

“What are you doing now?” Vladimir asked, seeing the kid walker closer to the lit candles and move his hands around the flames.

“Just… watch,” Chato answered, a small grin on his face as he manipulated the flames, creating a small bird out of it.

“…Amazing…” Vlad had his mouth open – he had never seen anything like it before. “It’s… beautiful.”

“Thanks,” the boy gave a warm smile as he tried something new – living fire. Moving his fingers he forced the fire bird to spread its wings and flap them. It was like a puppet on strings.

“You can move it?” the Russian blinked, getting more and more surprised.

“Yeah… I’ve been working on this since… forever I guess. It was the first trick I learned,” he made the bird fly up in to the air, do one circle and land on his palm.

“Truly God’s gift it seems… Never have I thought fire could be so… gentle.”

“A lot of people say that…” a sad smile came to the pyro’s lips as he recalled what the Garcia family used to say about this – they loved it.

“But I can’t really sustain it for long…” the kid frowned a bit in pain as the bird soon disappeared.

“Then you should work on that as well. Actually, you should work on that the most…”

* * *

 

Next up was standing the cold. Surprisingly, Chato lasted five hours before Vlad pulled him out – not because the kid couldn’t handle more, but because he was starting to worry.

“You’re improving really fast,” he admitted, seeing the kid didn’t seem cold at all.

“I’m a fast learner. My dad always needed my power for different reasons, so I ended up picking up on things quickly,” Santana explained, leaning on a chair and letting out a sigh.

“Then you can make the next meal,” the Russian said, looking at the clock.

“Why?” the pyro looked in confusion.

“I need to go visit someone…” the man explained in short, but the kid knew there was something more to it. However, he didn’t ask about it.

“Okay, sure… What do I make?”

“Whatever you want boy. Just make sure it’s edible.”

“Haha…”

* * *

 

About an hour later, Vladimir came back and smelled… something. Walking into the kitchen he saw Chato cursing furiously in Spanish as he held something which resembled bread. On the stove was a pot of boiling… water? It seemed too dirty to be water… The sink had charcoal in it? While smoke was constantly rising from the oven.

“…Well, you didn’t burn the house down…” the Russian said, startling the kid and letting him drop whatever he was holding into the sink.

“…I can explain,” Chato stated bluntly before the liquid in the pot went over the edge, getting out hisses from the fire.

“I think I understand perfectly…” the blonde sighed as the kid turned off the fire and gave a sheepish smile.

“I’ve never cooked before… Helped, yes. Cooked on my own? Nope.”

“Well, a good thing I have some lasagna.”

“Where’d you get that? And where were you anyway?”

“Secret,” the man answered. “Now clean up this… whatever it is. A cook always cleans up what he created,” the man gave a smirk and started to get ready for some real food.

* * *

 

** Day 4 **

It was a thunder storm outside and the duo turned off any and all electric devices. Unfortunately, they were a bit too slow and the lights got shocked, leaving them in the dark and cold. Times like this were really great to have a self-sustained, walking, talking heater, light source and fire creating pyromaniac in training.

“Heat it up some more,” Vladimir muttered as he baked the chicken legs in the pan.

“It’s kinda… hard… doing three things… at once…” the pyro grumbled, his eyes focused as one hand stayed under the pan, creating fire, another was above the pan, giving light and he was also releasing body heat to keep the two warm.

“Sides… aren’t Russians… supposed to… like the cold?” he added, increasing the flame.

“Yes but it has been a long while since I’ve been anywhere cold and LA is a very warm place. You can fall out of habit you know,” Vlad explained with a nod of his head and shook the pan.

“Besides, you can consider this some more training. Soon, you will be able to heat up the whole block,” right now, these two were the only ones in the block who actually had heat.

“Yeah… sure…” the kid mumbled as the smell of the chicken made his stomach growl.

“See? Even you are hungry now. The more you heat it up, the sooner it will be done.”

* * *

 

** Day 5 **

It was around 10:30 when the duo finally plugged back everything electric and fixed any broken lights. After all, Ed would be pissed if he found out. But soon after, Vlad decided he had to go and “Visit and old friend” again, leaving Chato alone. The pyro was having none of that.

Sneaking out of the house after the Russian left, Santana tailed him down the street and around the corners, always careful to keep the distance and not get caught. It was a good thing the blonde went on foot and not by car.

“ _Where is he going?_ ” the kid asked himself after fifteen minutes of this chase. And around the corner, he got his answer.

“Are you kidding me?”

* * *

 

Chato walked into the building, looking uneasy and kept glancing around the place. There were so many old people here, all of them just chatting and doing their thing.

“Igor,” Vlad’s voice got the kids attention.

“Vladimir! It is good to see you, my friend,” Igor was an old man on a wheelchair, gray hair and a bushy beard. His hands were shaking as he held the cup of tea.

“Same to you, father,” the Russian seemed sad yet happy as he spoke, holding the man’s hand.

“How are you doing?” Santana opened his eyes and turned around, ready to leave. He didn’t want to eavesdrop on a father-son conversation.

“Young man…” an old lady with a pony tail smiled as she walked up to him. “My tea has gone cold… Could you heat it up for me?” she thought he was a helper around here and the kid was about to explain it to her, but stopped himself.

“That power if yours and yours alone, got it? You do what you want with it – be it roast a chicken, burn a forest or melt a car. Don’t let some asshole tell you it’s a weapon if you heat up old nana’s tea.”

Ed’s words came back to him and Chato gave a smile.

“Sure thing,” he took the offered mug and held it in his hands, carefully heating it up right there. The woman didn’t even seem to notice he was using powers as she thanked him.

“Here you go,” he added with a smile, giving the mug back. “But it’s hot, so be careful.”

“Oh my, that was fast. Thank you, young man,” the lady gave one of the warmest and kindest smiles the pyro had ever seen and took a sip of the tea, returning to her friends.

* * *

 

It was later that day, after Vladimir had gotten home, that Chato was called down. After heating up that one lady’s tea, he went back home – he didn’t really want to get caught there.

“You’re back,” the kid smiled as the blonde entered, looking back at him.

“Yes, but I wonder…” the Russian’s eyes narrowed a bit. “You wouldn’t happen to have been near any a home for retired?”

“Me? Nah, never!”

“Really? Because there was talk about a ‘young man’ who managed to heat up Danica’s tea in a matter of seconds.”

“…I don’t know what you’re talking about…”

“Sure…” Vlad moved past the kid and set a hand on his shoulder. “If you want to try again, just say so. Those old people like something new.”

* * *

 

** Day 6 **

It was the last day before Ed came home, so the two made the best of it. Everything Chato had trained in the past week was up to this.

“Are you ready?” Vlad asked as he held the bucket of iced water.

“Ready,” the pyro nodded back, preparing himself for the final test.

The Russian swung the bucket back and then forward, throwing out all the water and letting it fly towards the kid. Taking a deep breath and waiting for the right moment, he released the heat just before the water would hit and evaporated anything aimed at his body. The liquid which wouldn’t have hit him passed by and smacked into the ground, while Chato stood there, dry as a bone.

“It worked!” the kid beamed, smiling.

“Congratulations,” the blonde grinned and bumped his fists with him. “Now we must celebrate!”

* * *

 

“Are you sure about this?” Santana asked as he held the glass of liquid in his hands.

“Yes! It is tradition! Besides, you have never truly tasted alcohol, unless you have tried Vodka!” Vladimir was smiling as he held his own glass.

“I guess it can’t be that bad,” Chato shrugged and they toasted, before drinking the Vodka.

“That’s good! Just do not tell Edward – he wouldn’t like the idea.”

“S…ure, no sweat!” the kid was already swaying a bit in his seat as the world seemed to spin.

_ A few hours later… _

“Chato? Where are you?” Vladimir asked as he looked around the messy and hardly lighted house. He just went to the bathroom, where is the kid?

“Chato?” he walked into the kitchen and saw the kid lying there on the table, a bottle of Vodka on the ground and the decorative flower in the corner on fire.

“Boy?” he asked and touched his shoulder, but that snapped the kid up and awake, screaming. Taking a step back from the sudden scare, the Russian didn’t even have time to react before Santana rushed off laughing, throwing off his clothes in the process.

“…” the blonde watched as the kid ran around, laughing, naked. He looked at the bottle and saw it was still half full. Since he didn’t have the bother do deal with this, Vlad drank what was left, getting himself drunk as well and joining in on the naked running and screaming. They even took it outside…

* * *

 

_ A few more hours later  _ ** – Day 7 **

It was already dark when Ed came home, driving up to the garage and parking the car. There were some lights still on in the house, but not many, so he figured the two must be sleeping. Walking inside, a smell quickly made its way to his nose – something burned.

“Chato? Vlad?” he asked, stepping into the kitchen and stopping where he stood – the plant was burned, there was smoke coming out of a few pots, burned food was littered all over the place and two bottles of Vodka were lying on the ground.

He moved into the living room and saw the TV was, luckily, still in one piece, but there was glass on the ground, some more burned food and clothes?

The bathroom was a complete mess, with vomit in the sink and bath and the towels were burned. There was also some makeup lying around?

Checking the phone, he saw many calls from the neighbors and a voice message saying “If you don’t stop what you’re doing, I am calling the police!”

Running a hand over his face, Ed walked up the stairs, finding some more burned stuff, clothes and candy wrappers, before hearing loud snoring from his room. Walking inside, he saw Vladimir on his back, hands spread over the double bed, with Chato curled up at his side. Both had nothing but underwear and were red in the face, mumbling all sorts of stuff.

“…At least the house is still standing…” the man muttered and turned back down, needing some sleep and since his bed was taken, he’d settle for the couch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do tell me what you think. Or don't. Whatever.


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